Considering the recognition of the existence of races as a social construction and the weight of this variant in determining inequalities that fall negatively on the population of African descent in Brazil, this study assesses the impact of racism on democracy, regarded not only as a political regime but as a form of relation of citizens between themselves and the State, according to the theoretical framework proposed by Guillermo O Donnell. It is established that the dense capillarity of the law in these relations is essential to a higher level of democratization and requires effective institutions capable of ensuring the effectiveness of the legal dimension of the state. Based on the reflections of Antonio Negri and Giuseppe Cocco, the prevailing law is questioned, considering the way the State was structured in Latin America, and particularly in Brazil, which obliterated the space for a subjectivity that is collectively leveraged. It is claimed that a path of greater emancipation must be the fruit of a process in which there is the prominence of subjectivity. The law applied as a result of immanent social forces, its intermittent application or the absence of its application, shall be regarded as contempt for democracy. From this perspective, the Federal Court of Appeal s implementation of antidiscrimination norms for African descendant is analyzed, in order to verify a side of the State responding to a factor that negatively influences democracy, from the identification of areas of tension within demands and in the solutions presented to society.