"The more things change, the more they stay the same" (Jean Baptiste Karr 1849). The difficulty of not being racist was first published in 1986. This and other texts from the 1990s are being made accessible again here. They testify to the state of the discussions at that time, which bear a striking resemblance to today's debates: much is therefore not new, but it is worth recalling. What is new is the coexistence of a welcoming culture and pogrom-like attacks against refugees, as well as the establishment of an openly racist right-wing party with double-digit election results in state parliaments and likely soon in the Bundestag. State actions fluctuate between border closures, racist exclusion, and integration discourses, encountering broader civil society reactions.