ABSTRACT
Racism manifests itself first and foremost not through an exclusionary legal or social apparatus that gives one race an elevated social position that it denies to others. The primary manifestation of racism is the racist fantasy. This fantasy depicts the racial other as the obstacle to the enjoyment of the racist subject. As an obstacle, the racial other illegitimately takes the subject’s enjoyment for itself. In this role, the racial other doesn’t deprive the racist subject of enjoyment. Instead, the racist enjoys through the figure of the racial other. This is because what we perceive as the obstacle to our enjoyment is actually the vehicle through which we enjoy. This is the logic that underlies racism and the racist fantasy that provides its psychic support. The racist subject enjoys the racial other that it hates as the obstacle to its enjoyment. This racist fantasy serves as the foundation for the legal and social apparatus of discrimination that arises around it.
