Magical racism is a trope as old at time. Okay, probably not that far back, but it's still a very common trope. X-men, RWBY, Dragon Age, to name a few, bring up the question of "what if magic users and/or catgirls were oppressed for their magic, as magic is something inherently dangerous that gives you an advantage over normies." Which is a pretty cool concept, yknow. Beastars sure pull the "how do people with huge power gaps can cohabit together" masterfully.

There is, however, a lil bit of an issue, being that this trope is often used as a metaphor for real-life racism (or oppression in general, but often specifically racism.) Which doesn't really... work. Because the basis of magical racism is "what if you had a legitimate reason to fear and oppress these people (because they can breathe fire, because they got poisonous stings, ect ect.)" And, you might have noticed, but real-life black folks are not able of raining thunder on people. Unfortunately, because it would be sick as hell.

Radiant is a french manga (a manfra, if you will) that seems at first glance to follow this trope: there are people in this world called the "infected," who aside from having a variety of physical & other modifications, are able to use magic. They are widely ostracized, and even in the one queendom lead by an infected queen, there's a general policy of "don't ask don't tell" when it comes to infections.

The kicker, however, is that ten chapters in, a villain shows up who is quite literally a white supremacist. "There are some areas where you can't even see a single white man" is an actual quote from him. He's a racist bitch in the way real-life people can be racist bitches.

So suddenly it's not "magic racism as a metaphor for real-life racism," because real-life racism is already brought up in the story proper without metaphors. The magical oppression instead ask a very interesting question: who is allowed to wield power?

Magic is dangerous, yes, yes, and that's the reason brought up to oppress the infected. But the law inforcement also performs its own form of magic, called "miracles." What's the difference between regular magic and miracles, you ask? Miracles are done by "good guys" and magic is used by "dirty criminal infecteds." It's literally PR. They're law enforcement, so they're allowed to wield power. You are part of the arbitrarily declared dangerous minority, and so you are not allowed to.

Furthermore, the "but infecteds are dangerouuus" argument is explicitly used as an excuse by rich assholes who want to use that deshumanizing propaganda to legalize slavery of the infected. Which is scaringly accurate to real-life too. Often, prejudice is less a matter of "I fear people who are different from me" and more "I want this guy's shit, how do I make them an acceptable target so I can steal their stuff." It's a lie perpetuated and amplified by people who are looking to make a profit from it, whether financially or just being allowed to step on someone below you for once.

Honestly, Radiant has a lot to say about real-life oppression and the people who gain from it, but a lot of it is explicitly stated in text so you don't need me to tell you about it. Just go read it yourself. I mostly wanted to talk about how much more powerful Magic Oppression as a trope can be when you're using it to enhance themes of actual real-life oppression.