Racial realism ("scientific" racism)

"Racial realism" is typically a euphemism used by racists to lend a pseudoscientific veneer to their views. These individuals claim that races, as they are commonly understood, are biologically real, rather than social constructs, and that racial distinctions can be measured scientifically through genetics. Furthermore, most, if not all, of them claim that some races are superior to other races on the whole in such significant measures as innate intelligence, physical strength or speed, and use this as a justification for racial prejudice.

However, "racial realism", in this sense, is not only racist, but against the modern scientific consensus on population genetics. See the American Association of Biological Anthropologists' 2019 position paper on race and racism.

Much less commonly, the term "racial realism" has been used by individuals such as critical race theorist Derrick Bell to describe their views on American society. Bell, for example, claims that racial distinctions are socially constructed but persistent in America, because dominant social forces (such as white privilege) continually reinforce them. Bell, however, is not arguing that this is a desirable state, or that any racial group is intrinstically superior. He is simply claiming that, while racial equality is a laudable goal, racism in America will never fully be overcome. Bell's views are further described and critiqued in this essay.

Source text originally based on an article from Wikipedia