MANIFESTATIONS OF STRUCTURAL RACISM IN BRAZILIAN SECONDARY EDUCATION: A DOCUMENTARY ANALYSIS OF DIGITAL NEWS REPORTS

Abstract

This article analyzes how structural racism manifests itself in the context of Brazilian high school education through the examination of news reports published on digital news portals between August 2020 and August 2025. Grounded in Almeida’s (2019) conception of structural racism, the study understands racism as a constitutive element of social organization, operating across individual, institutional, and structural dimensions. The research adopts a qualitative and exploratory approach, using documentary research and content analysis as methodological procedures. A total of 54 news reports were identified, of which 23 composed the final corpus, corresponding to 25 cases of racist manifestations. The findings revealed the predominance of episodes of direct racial discrimination and occurrences classified within the individualistic dimension of racism, as well as the presence of ideological mechanisms such as racial democracy, dehumanization, cultural racism, the narcissistic pact of whiteness, criminal stereotyping, necropolitics, and distorted meritocracy. The reported incidents involved different members of the school community and occurred in both public and private institutions across different regions of the country. The study concludes that school racism manifests through practices, discourses, and representations that reproduce historically constructed inequalities, reinforcing the need for anti-racist education.