Introduction

Black children are social-historical-cultural subjects with feelings that involve sadness and joy, where subjectivity and their desires are organized in processes of interaction in significant contexts (^{Ferreira; Vieira; Vieira, 2019}). Based on our first readings in the field of sociology and history of childhood (^{Ariès, 1981}; ^{James; Prout, 1990}; ^{Qvortrup et al., 1994}; ^{Sarmento, 2001}) we set up the theoretical and methodological basis of this study by electing children as “[…] social individuals, historical subjects, citizens produced in the culture and producers of culture. Citizens who have social rights, among them, the right to education and culture” (^{Kramer, 2010}, p. 21, our translation), that is, subjects of the research as a possibility to establish new perspectives with children, influenced by the sociology of childhood, focusing on children’s participation and their ethno-racial relations.

Childhood, as a structural category, enables research with children on the production of knowledge established in the interactions among themselves in their peer culture and in their relationships with adults. Such category relates to others - such as child and daycare, more specifically, university daycare. However, this study privileged the attendance to preschool age children in a university daycare center in Rio de Janeiro. The daycare is a category that represents the first stage of basic education, and the university daycare center is inserted in the context of the university tripod based on teaching, research and extension, while the children, in the age group selected, narrate their desires with great eloquence and sincerity, denounce and criticize the ethno-racial issues experienced in the context of early childhood education.

Children, therefore, compose a group, a social category. It can be seen, then, that the categories daycare and children have something in common: the passage through childhood, both are present in different generational cultures. In other words, they are permanent categories, because they express specific phases of child development.

This research is sustained, mainly, by valuing the power of the voice and the social action of children, even in the face of absences, silences, gestures and attitudes that are observed in their daily lives. We also consider the investigative look and the subtlety of this sensitive listening to interpret the children’s universe, the language with which children position themselves to express what they think and know independently of the school. We are talking about an approach based on listening rather than talking. There is a fascination that is allied to doubt and along with scientific inquiry requires flexibility for children to use all the time necessary to reveal their desires, questions, and most importantly to create situations to ask themselves relevant questions

When engaging with children, it is not only desired that they answer the questions, but it is also intended to discover emblematic issues that give contour and depth to our inquiries. ^{Quivyr (1992)} emphasizes that the question as a starting point is the fundamental thread of the research and indicates the uniqueness of children’s action amidst their interactions, keeping in mind that they are part of a complex social structure that influences them, but the knowledge produced in this interaction-action movement is configured as an intervention research, based on the principle that “[…] children, as well as adults, are active participants in the social construction of childhood and in the interpretive reproduction of their shared culture” (^{Corsaro, 2011}, p. 19, our translation). In this sense, children negotiate their participation according to their interests.

It is also intended to interpret the active participation of the children when they revisit the photographs, their drawings and video recorded narratives filmed by them as well. A central aspect of this work was to understand how children construct their ethno-racial relationships in meaningful contexts.

The development of the research gathered the children’s perceptions having a university daycare center of the federal education system in Rio de Janeiro, as the scenario for the meetings with the children, these meetings favored the delicate understanding of their inquiries and questionings in face of moving situations that increased the feeling of belonging to the group, in the sense of feeling welcomed and accepted in order to “[…] interpret what each set of narratives reveals about the relationship of the adult with the child in the context where the interview itself is developed” (^{Pereira; Salgado; Souza, 2009}, p. 1026, our translation). These narratives gave visibility to the central focus of this research: the knowledge mobilized and produced by children in the process of building their ethnic-racial relations.

The investigative work of intervention reveals social practices planned and implemented with the purpose of increasing the visibility of reflections and actions led by children. The intervention studies are close to the action research (^{Thiollent, 1986}) and the dialectic unity reflection-action based on the dialogic relationship proposed by Paulo Freire (1981). The research-action presupposes an implication in the relationship between the researcher, the children and the adults involved in the empirical field, socializing the experiences and theoretical and methodological knowledge of the research.

As for the ethical issues with the research, the names mentioned are fictitious, reduced or abbreviated and chosen by the children themselves or suggested by their peers in the conversation circles to preserve the identity of the children. Therefore, the theoretical-methodological approach of this research assumes the active participation of children throughout the interventions for the weaving of affirmative micro actions considering childhood as a social category. The children’s narratives are full of meanings, as well as the unique practices and life stories brought with the subtlety of the mediation of the teachers and their families. ^{Alderson (1995)} defends that children, as subjects of rights, should authorize their participation about the objectives and dynamics of the research.

Geertz (2008), investigating Balinese relationships, noted that children are often called by their personal names, naming little ones carries some extremely significant features for understanding the ideas that children produce about their personal status. In general, personal names have elements of a simply unique cultural identity. Personal names translate an experience of children’s cultural identity construction both in the sense of reaffirming their personal name and in the sense of valuing ancestry from the children’s perspective.

The investigative process favored research with children and the whiteness theme was present in the children’s narrative from the negotiation of meanings, meetings and confrontation of ideas, without excluding the possibility of giving up participating in the meetings in the conversation circles and when they noticed the involvement of other children, they changed their position with that sly behavior so peculiar among the little ones.

Reflections to rethink whiteness

^{Valter Silvério (2002)} in his studies on racism and racial discrimination states that whiteness is associated with the white experience. He defines it as a silenced consciousness that cannot admit its position in racial conflicts or with difficulties in relating to the experience lived by black subjects, especially black children who had their rights violated or suffered with prejudice.

This silenced consciousness or white experience can be defined as ‘a socio-historical form of consciousness’ born out of capitalist relations and colonial laws, now understood as ‘emergent relations between dominant and subordinate groups’

(^{Silvério, 2002}, p. 241, our translation).

In opposition to this analysis, Edith Piza’s studies present a more precise definition of whiteness that contemplates the understanding of the unfoldings of the affirmative micro actions developed in partnership with the teachers and children in the research field. Therefore, “[…] whiteness is a movement of reflection from and out of one’s own experience as white people. It is the conscious questioning of prejudice and discrimination that can lead to anti-racist political action” (^{Piza, 2005}, p. 07, our translation).

Given this definition proposed by Edith Piza, we assume the concept of whiteness as a state of critical consciousness and willingness to negotiate the privileges attributed to white subjects and the ability to recognize and combat the structural and structuring advantages of society. By re-signifying this positive white experience, the concept of whiteness assumes the position of those subjects who are not willing to give up their privileges and advantages in relation to the black population

In this context, children observe their teachers, family members and their own peers, realize the subtlety of the treatment given to black subjects in different contexts producing in their childhood cultures, situations that can be considered racist and following the logic of whitening, as a desire to assume the characteristics of the dominant culture. Therefore, “[…] children do not realize or do not distinguish why they are neglected in games and in the organization of free choice activities” (^{Ferreira; Vieira; Vieira, 2017}, p. 160, our translation). And the impact of symbolic manifestations on children’s relationships leads children to internalize the prejudiced representations, reaffirming the socialization process present in everyday practices that can expose children to racism.

There is a sense of rejection of racial characteristics among black children amplifying the desire to belong and experience the white experience, and the fact that teachers base themselves on skin color or phenotypic characteristics to differentiate the children establishing a racial hierarchy, and comments made in the presence of the little ones associated with the black color in derogatory situations can embarrass the children.

Moreover, the absence of positive attitudes on the part of teachers signals to children that they cannot count on their cooperation, since nothing is done and connivance on the part of education professionals trivializes racial discrimination. For Nilma Lino Gomes and Petronilha Silva, the professional development of teachers overlaps with other concepts such as improvement, in-service training, and continuing education. “This concept has a connotation of growth and continuity that goes beyond the traditional juxtaposition of initial teacher education and professional development” (^{Gomes; Silva, 2002}, p. 15, our translation). Thus, this formative process needs to be deepened in defense of an anti-racist education.

Microsociology and affirmative micro actions

In this study, the concept of microcosm of Pierre Bourdieu and the contributions of Anthony Giddens are used to interpret the institutionalization of microsociology. ^{Alice Casimiro Lopes (2006)} calls our attention to the risk of analyzing the relations between macro and micro instances, either by thinking that there is a certain autonomy or by establishing immediate relations between them. The structuralist discourses are characteristic of modernity, the author does not claim that all research on micro-instances involving subjects, actions and institutions assume a post-structuralist or post-modern theoretical perspective but recognizes that post-structuralist conceptions value the discourses of micro-instances, which are sometimes disregarded by structuralist and modern discourses. Therefore, a relevant aspect to be highlighted consists in the theoretical effort of dialogic interweaving between ^{Bourdieu (2011)} and ^{Giddens (2001)} to ground the concept of affirmative micro actions. It is based on the macrosocial context (national agenda and its legal aspects), the mesostructured context (academic and institutional agenda) and the micro context (action with children in the context of affirmative action).

^{Giddens (2001)} also understands that the relationships between the micro and macro levels can help us face social inequalities. The author defines microsociology as the study of social interactions present in everyday life. In this sense, micro sociological analysis focuses on the interactions between children in small groups and the political aspects for the consolidation of affirmative micro actions in the everyday life of children and their childhoods.

As well as the economic aspects in the universe of symbolic production is configured as a microcosm, as a political field, i.e., “[…] a small relatively autonomous social world within a large social world” (^{Bourdieu, 2011}, p. 195, our translation). This microcosm can suffer ruptures influenced by the universe of the economy or the world of practice, work, family, religious groups and, of course, in the world of children, therefore, involves the relations and micro actions that are their own and, relatively autonomous in relation to the macrocosm. This autonomy allows us to think about the universe of children and their childhoods, in relation to the specificities of black children and early childhood education in the context of a university daycare center.

The affirmative micro actions are constituted under the prism of children’s participation in the face of macro/micro demands that the institution faces in everyday school life, privileging the actions with children in a counter-hegemonic perspective and favoring the subjective dimensions in relation to ethno-racial diversity and interventions in the pedagogical practice. The affirmative micro actions establish the intersection between the interactions and their macro processes, assuming that the micro/macro relations are closely linked.

In this perspective, Bourdieu’s studies enable the analysis of micropolitics considering the university daycare center as a field of knowledge production and academic knowledge, therefore, the micropolitics dimension is constituted as the basis of the daily practices to enhance the affirmation of ethnic-racial differences that manifest themselves in school and from multiple languages - body, artistic, pictorial, oral, among others - that we use to interpret the knowledge and establish partnerships with children, including favoring the debate in educational meetings. These meetings provide the opportunity to exchange ideas, denounce, highlight inequalities, discriminations, and claim the recognition of a socio-cultural and anti-racist policy. This debate is not recent and continues to be guided in social struggles by the black movement and at school, making visible the social contexts marginalized by hegemonic power, giving meaning to the culture of peers and to the knowledge produced by children.

This research was initially inspired by the reading of the doctoral thesis of Prof. ^{Regina de Fatima de Jesus (2004)}, her study presents the concept of everyday affirmative micro actions in their projects, supported by the narratives of the investigated teachers and resorts to the concept of knowledge-emancipation proposed by ^{Boaventura Sousa Santos (2002)} to share these narratives, considering that all knowledge is self-knowledge.

The researcher investigated the anti-racist actions of the teachers and their view of the children, approximating her reflections to Paulo Freire’s praxis in search of a theoretical-practical deepening on a gap present in the formation of teachers, the ethnic-racial relations. In addition to the commitment to monitor and develop affirmative micro actions that contribute to changing the exclusionary relationships that mark the school day-to-day from childhood on (^{Jesus; Araújo; Silva, 2015}).

André Souza and Luciana Silva reflected on the situations of discrimination suffered in childhood, as a social category, and how these actions affect and transform our practices and concluded that “[…] affirmative micro actions are strategies of struggle in everyday school, against racist ideologies historically widespread in Brazilian society” (^{Souza; Silva, 2018}, p. 52, our translation). In this context, we present the analysis of the children’s narratives and consider the concept of affirmative micro actions as a political and analytical category to interpret antiracist practices in ethnic-racial relations education.

Reflections on affirmative action policies

The debate on affirmative action had its first register in the National Human Rights Program of 1996, the social demands were considered as affirmative action for the access of the black population to the university and to the areas of high technology and vocational courses as a result of the World Conference on the Promotion of Social Equality, which expressed the concern of international organizations to universalize education in favor of social equity (^{Ferreira; Vieira; Vieira, 2017}).

Affirmative action policies differ by their nature, those emanating from the State and the various institutions and governmental bodies; those policies such as affirmative action initiatives created by civil society and with the strength of social movements (^{Vieira, 2003}). However, there is a growing demand for anti-racist practices in meaningful contexts that meet the specificities of children and young people in all stages of basic education, even in the face of the implementation of ^{Laws 10.639/03} and ^11.645/08, which make mandatory the teaching of African, Afro-Brazilian and indigenous history and culture.

And from this practical dimension is inserted the affirmative micro actions, including children and their childhoods in the context of social practices, but understanding that implementing anti-racist practices is a political act as stated by Paulo Freire. Therefore,

Affirmative actions can be understood as a set of public or private policies, actions, and orientations, of compulsory, optional or voluntary character that aim to correct the inequalities historically imposed on certain social and/or ethnic-racial groups with a proven history of discrimination and exclusion. They have an emergency and transitory character. Their continuity will always depend on constant assessment and the proven change in the discrimination framework that led to

(^{Gomes, 2003}, p. 222, our translation).

We include in this history of discrimination and exclusion the narrative between the researcher and Bob, one of our child subjects, which is emblematic for us to understand the relevance of these demands:

(Researcher) So, you are a black boy... And Bob answered: I am not black, I am black and brown. So, if you are black and brown, you are black... he continued provoking: But I am not black, because I am just an ordinary black and brown boy... So you are a black boy? insisted the researcher. No, I don’t like being black! And he continued playing with a Spiderman doll around the room (Video – transcript, 2017).

In the scene of the “ordinary black and brown boy”, we reflected on skin color, and observed that the child made a deep criticism by not recognizing himself as a black child. And we made the following interpretation:

When a child complains that he/she doesn’t want to be black, he/she is telling us that he/she doesn’t want the treatment customarily given to people belonging to this racial group. What he/she wants is not to be mocked, to receive insulting nicknames, to be excluded from jokes... So, better than calling him/her “brown” to disguise her blackness is to make sure that he/she receives attention, affection, and stimulation in order to elaborate her racial identity in a positive way

(^{Cavalleiro, 2001}, p. 156, our translation).

The challenge for teachers is to give black children explicit speeches that praise their intelligence, aesthetics, and development. The explicit speeches assume a political position in affirmative micro actions regarding family, school, and social group, stimulating the children to build their subjectivity and the feeling of racial belonging.

Bob’s narrative translates the children’s desire for a set of policies and actions aimed at minimizing inequalities in the school’s daily life and that contemplate the specificities of black children and their childhoods, these actions are called affirmative micro actions.

Affirmative micro actions and children: analysis of the narratives

When we refer to the identity of black children, in an affirmative way we refer to the construction of subjectivity as a way of thinking, acting, perceiving and feeling oneself, others and the world, producing knowledge through social, cultural and political differences present in significant contexts.

The selected scenes contributed to the construction of the dimensions of analysis. The personal collection of photographs, audio and videos record the interventions, as well as the protagonism of the children. While the videos expressed the movements and revealed the involving dynamics of the scenes that potentiated the formulation of questions concerning the observed situations. It is expected that the dense transcriptions of the images produced preserve the enchantment and the boldness of the children’s interpretations. According to ^{Maria Carmem Barbosa (2014, p. 243, our translation)} “[…] the images made by the children and the video recordings of the research processes are necessary instruments to reflect on the pedagogical practice, disseminate experiences and suggest different possibilities of interventions”.

Based on the intervention studies, three dimensions of affirmative micro actions emerged considering the perspective of black, non-black, and children in a situation of inclusion:

Expressive affirmative micro actions – this dimension registers the children’s self-expression, considering their need to reflect about their feelings and emotions when expressing their creativity for the construction of the self. The expressive activities highlight the drawings, photographs, and videos produced with/by the children during the intervention process and these reveal the children’s imagination emerging from their play, drawings, and narratives. For ^{Zoia Prestes (2016)}, imagination emerges in the children’s game playing and action with objects that become toys by giving them other meanings.

Children’s drawings express the perception of children about their particularities present in everyday life. Drawing is one of the most important symbolic expressions of children. Considering that the drawing precedes the writing of the word and reveals what oral communication did not express, stimulating the little ones to register their ethno-racial diversity. “In this sense, children’s drawing communicates, and it does so given that images are evocative and referential in a way that is distinct from and beyond what verbal language can do” (^{Sarmento, 2011}, p. 28-29, our translation).

Source: Manu, 5 years old (2018).

Figure 1 Aliafá and Kiriku princesses and the sorceress 

Figure 1 highlights Manu’s drawings after the story “Alafiá, the warrior princess”, interpreted by the author herself, Sinara Rubia (2019) led a brilliant theatrical performance to present the saga of Aliafá, princess of the Kingdom of Adaomé. The children were enchanted with the story of love and adventure of the quilombola princess who fought slavery. The children’s attentive eyes fluttered with emotion. The presentation was followed by a rich debate about the ethno-racial theme, and then paper and colored pencils were made available for the children to express their perceptions.

Manu also produced the drawing of Kiriku and the sorceress (^{Ocelot, 2016}), inspired by reading in one of the most sought-after books by the children in the reading room, they still took the books home in the context of the literary project where they read with their families. The children dramatized the story, participated actively in the writing of the text and in the production of the scenery, made the clothes by coloring the fabrics with ink. They chose the characters to tell the story of the African baby who saved the people of his village and released the witch from a curse.

Surprisingly, the children revealed to us that “Karabá turned into a princess in the end and kiriku grew up and married her!” Said Manu. “He is a prince! I run faster than Kiriku!” (Bob, 5 years old). And looking at the drawing: “He’s naked and peeing!!!” said Manu laughing... Manu’s drawings, as well as Bob’s narrative, reveal their joy in feeling represented in the protagonism of black characters.

The drawings are interpreted as symbolic products, social and cultural artifacts of childhood, that is, a unique production of children, full of meanings and senses that express their cultural values and the differentiated graphic capacity present in childhood, as a generational category, given the possibilities of interpretation in the research context.

Another scene described - body in motion - is a practice observed in the movement room, as they call the room with the floor covered with rubberized tatami for the playful practices with the dance and physical education teachers. In pairs, the children drew their bodies with colored tape with the colors available: blue, yellow, and green, according to the children’s choice. They also took a white doll to represent the body, revealing that there are few black dolls at school. But it was possible to notice the teachers’ concern throughout the research in providing at least one black doll to arrange among the toys in the classroom.

The proposal consisted of moving the body, the affective dynamic in which the body moves in this involving plot and remains in the position as long as another child goes around it, the brief scene, the sensibility and the gestures broaden their relationship with their peers. The body expression dynamic was part of the sequence of movements that explored the different rhythms, including the funk beat.

As a matter of fact, this musical genre strained the relations with the families, and the criticism was circumvented by the management and the teachers. It is worth mentioning that families with cultural capital in the arts, especially in music, welcomed and supported the cultural manifestations produced by the children. These tensions show the class issues, social segregation and religiosity present in the school everyday life, evidencing the demands for expressive affirmative micro actions that strengthen the identity of black and non-black children and youngsters coming from our slums and peripheries, also giving to funk and other peripheral rhythms the transgressor and contesting character of the communities.

The dimension of expressive affirmative micro actions includes the space-time relationship, amplitude of gestures, the movement, rhythm, and interaction with another, with the space and the object expressing their feelings. In the words of ^{Le Breton (2009, p. 52, our translation)}, “[…] the feelings we experience, the way they resonate and are expressed physically within us [...]. They are inscribed on the face, the body, the gestures, the postures, etc.”

This bodily experience is part of the socialization process, the effects of the scenes and the children’s gestures led them to circulate around the movement room to find the expressive movement that approached the figure. The body is a factor of individuality, therefore, the children groping in their markings produce an expressive feeling in relation to the mark that differentiates, positively, their black bodies from others and from the world.

Inclusive affirmative micro actions – this dimension considers the participation of black and non-black children in a situation of inclusion. And children’s literature with black children as protagonists enhances the meeting between children to outline the relationships of affection, in the sense of affecting oneself and affecting the other through the subtlety of care, attention and the pleasure of being together and enchanted by reading stories. ^{Abramowicz e Oliveira (2012)} strove to build the perception regarding a child and black to think about the relationships between race, gender, and social class. In other words,

[…] the practices experienced in Early Childhood Education can enable black children to discover their ethno-racial belonging in a positive way, as well as help non-blacks to relate well with the difference

(Silva, 2015, p. 85, our translation).

Children presented a possibility of socialization in an inclusive perspective, welcoming and providing opportunities for situations that promote and expand the participation of children in an inclusive perspective. This dimension also involves the participation of families in voluntary meetings in face of the complex interaction with children in the inclusion process. One specificity of the group observed was inclusive education, there were three children attended in this perspective and the black children’s literature favored the interactions among the children. The interface between inclusive education and ethno-racial relations develops the feeling of solidarity, cooperation, and care, but that does not include the difficult challenge of socializing new toys. In this case, when the children are not able to negotiate the loan, the group’s agreement is to stay with the toy kept in the backpack. And it worked well as a group, gradually the children learn to socialize the toys and include their friends in the games.

This approach stresses the complex interaction that is established in the group. On one hand, the group becomes more sensitive to inclusive issues and this favors the black children, who are no longer the focus of discrimination situations. On the other hand, the possibility of discrimination takes on a different contour in an inclusive perspective, socializing a toy is not an easy task in the peer culture, generating conflicts that require the mediation of the teachers.

However, the children’s attention during the research was directed to literary meetings and story reading moments with black children as the protagonists, especially if there are special effects, through the percussion of their own bodies with instruments or toys, including sung toys that mobilize children with the sound of African and Afro-Brazilian rhythms potentiate antiracist practices. The inclusive affirmative micro actions stimulate attention to the other and mutual respect favoring interventions through cooperative and collaborative activities. Just as families share the inclusion process by negotiating relationships of coexistence.

The inclusive activities stimulate the children with the possibility of non-verbal communication, through artistic installations that provide a playful and free way for the sensitive and creative experience of the subjects, favoring collective and individual encounters.

And consequently, the teachers are in a constant movement to reduce inequalities and discrimination that is configured in the school context. Therefore, “[…] we cannot, however, is to lose the procedural and never-ending vision of inclusion. No matter how ‘inclusive’ the institutions become, there will always be the need to move towards inclusion” (^{Santos, 2002}, p. 117, our translation).

Formative affirmative micro actions - this concerns the development of attitudes, the construction of respect and values that stimulate the ethno-racial belonging either through a bibliographic collection (children’s literature, songs, videos), games and games that awaken the sensibility to the theme, the teachers are mediators in this process while they learn or expand their personal reflections with the participation of the children. The extension and specialization courses committed to theory and practice deepen their professional development and expand their teaching knowledge. Ancestry dialogues with the experience of the elders and families complement this weaving that consists, basically, in presenting to the children other positive identity references about their ethno-racial belonging.

Nevertheless, the reflections need to involve families, through a formative process that needs to involve children, families and their teachers. One of the activities proposed by the teachers was the description of the children’s narratives as a strategy to promote dialogue with the families about racial issues in the context of the literary project through a colored card to comment on the black children’s literature chosen by the children themselves:

Perception of race in Bob’s eyes. We ask him what color we are, hair color and eye color. He sees us as brown. Mom’s eyes are black and Dad’s are brown. Everyone has black hair. He sees himself as brown too. We explained to him that our color is a mixture of race, because our grandparents are white and black

(Transcript - Family A - Field notes, 2018).

Without realizing, the family resumes the considerations of ^{Oracy Nogueira (2006)} about miscegenation’s ideology, we realize the increasing demand for formative processes to broaden the debate in a critical perspective. The challenge is to translate the pedagogical practices accumulating along the research-training movement on how to offer the school community positive affirmative references, especially to black children, giving prestige to other aesthetics of African or Afro-Brazilian origin and that are carefully planned by family members or teachers with the participation of children (^{Jesus; Araújo; Silva, 2015}).

This dimension of formative affirmative micro actions is directly related to cultural and political action. Cultural action is the theoretical construction considering antiracist practices. Teachers need to experience the pedagogical practices, to have access to consistent theoretical references in formative processes that enhance their professional development, especially teachers who work with black children from low-income classes have the need to think in meaningful contexts from expressive, inclusive, and formative affirmative micro actions.

And the liberating action proposes to break with racist practices, attitudes and behaviors in reflective and formative movements that enhance the self-esteem of black children. Therefore, affirmative micro actions are revealed in the intentionality of the educational practices of teachers that promote an anti-racist education.

Final Considerations

^{Silvério (2003, p. 60, our translation)} recognizes that racial discrimination and racism apparently result in situations of exclusion and social inequality for the subjects and groups that suffer from these “[…] practices at both the macro and microsocial levels”. The author wonders, “[…] how to incorporate the difference that makes a difference?” There is no ready and conclusive answer in a country with so many social inequalities. However, affirmative micro actions guide the construction of “[…] a project of saying antiracist that materializes in the daily doing of teachers, technicians and white, black children” (^{Motta; Paula, 2019}, p. 16, our translation) and their families. In this perspective, social relations and interactions intend children’s identities and ways of life of black and non-black children, “[…] at the same time, culture deepens in the mechanics of identity formation itself” (^{Hall, 1997}, p. 6, our translation).

It is emphasized the importance of implementing an anti-racist education in the daily lives of black and non-black children in search of a school without racism, discrimination and prejudice. And if we compare the number of children enrolled in the early childhood education sector of the university daycare center investigated, of the 80 children enrolled in the 2017 school year, it was observed in the exploratory phase of the research that only 17 children were declared by their families as black or brown, equivalent to 21%. Therefore, it is concluded that white children represent 79%. In this sense, it is possible to state that social and ethno-racial inequalities are still present in school educational practices.

The mandatory study of African, Afro-Brazilian and indigenous culture and history since childhood is defined by ^{Laws 10.639/03} and ^11.645/08 representing the macro and micro instances, that is, the affirmative micro actions indicate the immediate relations between them. Finally, we hope that the affirmative micro actions contribute to the production of knowledge about childhood and basic education.