Tag: Racial discrimination

A young black woman in a small Finnish city

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Finns are adamant that there is no racial discrimination in their society.

Josephy Wandera Owindi*

For some white people it’s difficult to comprehend how a black woman could be treated in a small city like Mikkeli, located 230km northeast of Helsinki. Is she a victim of microaggressions and/or of outright sexism and racism? 

The aim of a microaggression is the casual degradation of any socially marginalized group like disabled people, sexual minorities, migrants and their children. A microaggression can be a comment that may sound as a compliment but hides an insult to the person and his or her group.

Microaggressions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read more about microaggressions here.

 

A black person could be born in Finland and speak the Finnish language perfectly as a native. Even if the person is a Finn and speaks Finnish as his mother language, he’s complimented on his Finnish language. The seemingly innocent comment, which is done unconsciously and subtly, implies that the person isn’t a true Finn but is made to feel like a perceived foreigner in his own country.

Some of the treatment that the young black woman receives in Mikkeli aren’t  only microaggressions but outright sexist and racist. Russian women can be placed in the same group since some Finnish men label all of them as prostitutes.

“I’ve lived in Mikkeli for a number of years and every time I leave home usually middle-aged men approach me in public,” she said. “Some think I’m a prostitute and others think that I live off social welfare and am unemployed. They ask me in English why I don’t speak Finnish, which I do, or tell me to go back to the country I came from.”

Her treatment by other men has made her especially conscious about how she dresses in public.

“If I wear a short skirt and use makeup men approach me with greater ease and start talking to me and ask uncomfortable questions,” she said. “I don’t like to go outside alone but feel safe when I’m accompanied by a friend. As I mentioned, some men are very rude and don’t care if they insult me.”

“Sometimes I answer back,” she continued, “and tell them that I don’t live off welfare and study and work in Finland.”

The young woman believes that young black people of Southern Sudan, Turkey and members of the Romany minority suffer the most discrimination in Mikkeli because of their ethnic background.

The woman has a child who is still too young to attend school. She believes that her child will suffer at school because of  ethnic background.  When her child was a baby, she remembers a group of fifteen-year-old teenagers at a fast-food restaurant who commented: “Look at that monkey.”

“When I’m with my child I feel that people give me angry looks as if asking ‘why did I have a child with a [white] Finn,'” she said. “How do I deal with this type of treatment that I get on a [near-]daily basis? I try to forget what happened, even if it’s difficult. It’s a horrible situation.”

The woman said that Finland should do more to educate people so that they’d learn to treat people who are different from them with the respect they expect to receive from others.

* Kato, kato nekru. WSOY. Porvoo 1972. p. 47.

guardian.co.uk: Australia set to recognise Aborigines as first people of continent*

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Comment:  As Migrant Tales bloggers know, Australia is one of the three countries that have multiculturalism as an official social policy. The other two countries are Canada and United Kingdom. 

Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced that constitutional amendments could be put to the Australian people in a referendum that finally recognizes Aborigines as the country’s original inhabitants. Constitutional reform plans to strike off the last clauses of state-sanctioned racial discrimination. 

Writes the guardian.co.uk:  “Section 25 of the constitution recognises that states can disqualify people, such as Aborigines, from voting. Section 51 says federal parliament can make laws based upon a person’s race. Both were put in the constitution in 1901 to prevent certain races from living in areas reserved for white people or from taking up certain occupations.”

Gillard said that “we are big enough and it is the right time” to say yes to accepting our understanding of Australia’s past and constitutional reform.  She said that such actions would foster a more united and reconciled Australia than ever before. 

Do you agree with Australia’s constitutional reform? Should Finland take similar steps to reconcile relations with ethnic groups like the Saami and Romany minority?

*Thank you JusticeDemon for the heads up!

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Alison Rourke

Australia is poised to make historic changes to its constitution, recognising Aborigines as the country’s original inhabitants and removing the last clauses of state-sanctioned racial discrimination.

Read whole story.

Rosa Parks’ humble example lives on

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By Enrique Tessieri

Of the many Civil Rights Movement icons that emerged during the 1950s, the late Rosa Parks is one of my biggest heroes. With her humble example on a December first afternoon of 1955, Parks changed US history by refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama. 

Back then, black passengers were obliged to sit in the back of municipal buses. If the bus was full they were required to give up their seat to a white passenger.

Parks refused and was arrested.

                                                                             Rosa Parks. Source US Information Center. 

Four women and a man had taken similar steps as Parks but none of them had sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott that took place on her trial on December 5.  She was found guilty by the court and fined $14.

The bus strike that Parks sparked lasted for 381 days and was led by a 26-year-old Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. In a groundbreaking 9-0 decision in 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation on municipal buses was illegal.

Parks’ civil disobedience became an important symbol of the Civil Rights Movement. She became famous internationally as an icon of peaceful resistance against racial segregation.

This brave woman, who died in 2005 at the age of 95, proved that people can change the course of history with their humble example. No weapon, police brutality, state terrorism or racism are a match for a woman like Parks.

If she was able to challenge with a simple refusal to relinquish her seat on a bus fifty-six years ago, imagine what we can do today with our examples.

Here is an interesting clip about Parks’ life.

HS.fi: Salon irtisanottu talonmies palaa töihin

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Comment: The fired building superintendent, who got laid off because clients complained of his ethnic background, has been rehired by his former employer Salon Omakotiyhdistys ry, according to HS.fi quoting Finnish News Agency (STT).

The moral of the incident? If you expose discrimination and racism things may change.

Keeping quiet if you are a victim of discrimination and racism is as bad as working in the black. In both cases you forfeit your rights and leave your future to chance.

Another encouraging matter about the incident shows that things can change for the better in Finland but there is one key requirement: Silence is a definite no-no.

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STT

Turku. Salossa irtisanottu ulkomaalaistaustainen talonmies palaa takaisin töihin. Salon omakotiyhdistys pyysi aiemmin miestä palaamaan, ja hän kertoi perjantaina tulevansa takaisin.

Read whole story.

Helsinki Times: Finnish insurer to pay damages to Congolese families

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Comment: It is a positive sign that more cases of racial discrimination are becoming public. One of these below was by Lähivakutus, an insurance company, which refused  to pay damages to a dozen Congolese families in Kajaani because they weren’t Finnish citizens. The insurer admitted its mistake and accepted to pay damages to the families only after the case was taken to the Ombudsman for Minorities. 

These cases, like the building superintendent in Salo who was fired because of his ethnic origin, are unfortunately the tip of the iceberg of a probably much widespread problem in Finland. Unfortunately, many immigrants who are victims of discrimination refuse to take action on their own. 

It is very important that when we are victims of discrimination we file a complaint. This is not only important for us but to our children and grandchildren so they may live one day in a country where these types of practices are the exception.

In the 1980s I applied for an oil company Esso credit card but was refused on the grounds that I wasn’t a Finnish citizen. When I got my Finnish citizenship I applied for a credit card from the same company again. They said they would grant me the credit card but I now refused to accept it. 

A good starting point to report discrimination is the Ombudsman for Minorities.

You can reach them from Monday to Friday 10-12 at 071 878 8666.

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Finnish property and casualty insurer Lähivakuutus is to pay damages to a dozen Congolese families for discrimination, the Finnish minority ombudsman’s office said in a statement Wednesday.

Read whole story.

Here is the statement (in Finnish)  by the Ombudsman for Minorities.

The tale of two racist spray paintings in an eastern Finnish city

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A new association called Kansavinvälinen Mikkeli (International Mikkeli) was registered on September 23. One of its most important aims is to serve as a forum where Finns and immigrants can openly debate topics that affect each other and create a greater sense of community.

One of the first matters that the association tackled was racist graffiti on the walls of the Kattilansilta School and underpass in Mikkeli.  To our surprise, the disturbing messages of both spray paintings had been there for months. The first one, at the school for children with learning disorders, had been noticed by one of the teachers in spring. The second one had been seen for the first time about seven months ago.

This spray painting was first noticed in spring by a teacher at the school for students with learning disorders. The school states on its website the following: We aim to foster the development of young people by meeting their needs and giving them the confidence and competence to lead independent, purposeful and enjoyable lives.

Even though the work of these spray-paintings is that of a deranged person, the most worrying matter is that some of the teachers didn’t think it was an urgent enough issue to address immediately.

Here is a discussion I had with one of the teachers of the Kattilansilta School in September:

“That sign has been there since spring,” he admitted. “They don’t represent my values.”

After a brief silence, the teacher continues: “Why is it that groups such as the (anti-immigration) True Finns and Muutos 2011 are labelled racist whenever they criticize immigrants for getting more social welfare than Finns?”

I asked him how he knew that some immigrants got more social welfare than Finns. He responded the local media as his main source.

This case at the school and my brief discussion with one of the teachers is,  in my opinion, a case in point why racism is still acceptable among some circles in Finland. It is done through silent approval or disapproval. The reaction could be compared with what happens in countries where human rights violations are the order of the day. Nobody dares to say anything in the erroneous belief or fear that nothing will ever happen to them.

After a call to the principal of Vanamo Special School, the graffiti was pained over the next day. The principal has his office in Vanamo Special School,  which reveals that the teachers of Kattilansilta School never brought the matter to his attention.

Here is one of the walls of the school where two of the three “white power” graffiti was sprayed.

The “Niggers Out” (apologies for the racist content of the photograph below) is still on the wall of an underpass after the association had got in touch in early October with the municipality.

This graffiti was first noticed on a wall of a Mikkeli underpass about seven months ago.These spray paintings appear to be the work of a neo-Nazi sympathizer(s).

An immigrant call to change and Finnish society

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Some wrongfully accuse those of speaking up for cultural diversity in Finland of “whining” and being “ungrateful.” Apart from exercising one’s democratic right of free speech, bigger steps have to be taken by minorities in this country to drive home their message of greater equality and fair treatment.

If we wait for change it will never happen in our lifetimes.

In my opinion, the situation of immigrants in Finland is tragic and shameful. On the one hand, you have people who want to eagerly take part in this society but cannot due to a number of imagined and real factors such as language, while Finnish authorities simultaneously spend a lot of funds and good will on integrating these persons to our society.

The integration program, although well-intentioned, lacks one very important component in order for it to be successful: Immigrants’ input. The program is the majority’s view on how newcomers should integrate into our society.

On many occasions I have mentioned that we do not need any magic trick to integrate immigrants and refugees. Those very values that makeup our society would be enough. However, the problem is that these legal benchmarks enshrined in the Constitution and Non-Discrimination Act do not apply to minorities who don’t speak Finnish or Swedish as natives.

Real integration does not only mean job opportunities but, most importantly, a willingness by society to accept these people. Today unemployment among immigrants is officially 2-3 higher than the national level and by looking at the silence and lack of leadership of Finnish politicians, the closed view of institutions such as the police and the constant attacks by hardline “Finland for Finns” proponents, it is clear what a significant part of the population thinks.

We are still at such a diaper stage in the immigrant debate that some of our politicians and policy-makers do not even grasp why immigration is important for this country but prefer instead to stick their heads in the sand and hide behind nationalism.

Change will not come from the majority because there is a definite lack of leadership in this area. If this is so, we must spearhead change and make our voices heard and take part more vociferously than ever in the ongoing one-sided debate on immigrants in Finland. We must lobby politicians and use all the opportunities and channels offered by democratic society to make our voices heard.

That time has come now.

Racial profiling in Finland

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Here is an interesting story in the Washington Post on racial profiling, a practice whereby law enforcement uses race or a person background as a grounds for criminal suspicion.

It is only logical that if their is a greater tendency to suspect blacks versus whites in the United States, certainly more people of this group will be arrested and end up in the criminal statistics.

The article in the Washington Post is about the arrest of a prominent black professor and the treatment he received from the police due to racial profiling. The article reads:

Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. has spent much of his life studying the complex history of race and culture in America, but until last week he had never had the experience that has left so many black men questioning the criminal justice system.

We had a few weeks ago a lively debate about crimes committed in Finland by certain national group. While this is no attempt to defend such crimes, a question arises: are certain national and ethnic groups such as the Roma especially harrassed by the Finnish police?

Would you like to share your experiences with us?

A foreigner told me a hilarious story a long time ago about three dark-skinned foreigners driving in a Skoda when then Czechosolovakian President Vaslak Havel visited Finland. The police pulled the car over and asked the occupants where they were from.

One of these foreigners thought that the police had especially pulled them over because they drove in a Czech car when President Havel was visiting the country.

I wonder if professional assassins would act in such a conspicuous manner?