Anke Wischmann discusses the contradiction between structural racism and the notion of education as an individual process of self-formation (Bildung) in German schools. On the one hand, studies show that students from a “migrant background” underachieve in formal schooling (Broden & Mecheril 2010). On the other hand education policies focus on the individual as a self-reliant, autonomous, unique subject (Ehrenspeck 2010). This leads into a debate on diversity and individualisation as two sides of the same coin. Thus ‘differences’ are seen as essential and fixed and have to be recognized as such. Consequently, German education policy focuses on the “correct handling” of such students. This paper argues that current policy veils structural inequities and supports assumptions of “cultural deficits” (Yosso 2005). Using Critical Race storytelling (Gillborn 2006) as a “methodological tool”, a narrative approach is used to reconstruct how the mechanisms of discrimination interact with expectations of individual performance and achievement in the case of a young man of Turkish origin. The paper concludes that addressing discrimination is not just an educational issue which needs to be dealt with, but part of subjectivation as an act of resistance and productive part of educational processes (Butler 1997).