When you are silent, everyone does whatever they want, and you have encouraged them with your silence. Do not be silent, if someone is oppressed in your presence and you are silent, you have helped the oppressor, you have supported him with your silence. Do not be silent, speak, you distinguish good from bad, you
Read on »Posts Tagged: Minorities
A Migrant Tales style guide to writing about migration: avoid words that hide our racism and denial
After over twenty years in journalism and writing for some of the world’s most prestigious publications and having worked as a foreign correspondent in countries like Finland, Italy, Colombia, and others, I have learned a thing or two about journalistic style and correctness. On top of my journalistic experience, I am a sociologist who has
Read on »Helsingin Sanomat editorial on the police service and media raises questions
According to a new survey on the police service, an editorial in Finland’s largest daily Helsingin Sanomat claims today that trust in the police runs high, even if the survey showed that confidence in the police had fallen by four percentage points to 91%. The editorial also puts in a favorable word for the media, which it
Read on »Shirlene Green Newball (Part 2/3): A list of some black female writers you should read
Shirlene Green Newball* In 2011, former President Barack Obama gave Maya Angelou the Presidential Medal of Freedom. A year later, it was presented to Toni Morrison (1931-2019), an icon of the black literature in the United States of America. She was born in Lorain, Ohio, being the second of four children from a middle African
Read on »White Finnish media story of the day*: Use words that promote inclusion and public spaces to people of color and other minorities
A headline in a Helsingin Sanomat news story about US President Donald Trump’s racist tweets to “the Squad,” four progressive women elected to congress in 2018, highlights how the media racializes non-white people in Finland. While the story uses the Finnish News Agency (STT) and AFP as sources, the copy editors at Helsingin Sanomat could
Read on »Finland’s Nobel Prize in economics states that white Finns must not share power and privileges with migrants and their children
Bengt Holmström is a Finnish economist who received the Nobel Prize in economics in 2016. What he may know about economics does not mirror his knowledge of Nordic values such as social equality and especially how migrants and minorities live in Finland.
Read on »Pressiklubi gives simplistic, apologetic view on how the Finnish media is “more balanced” today when writing about non-white Finns
It is surprising to hear how some politicians and journalists continue to have simplistic and apologetic views of racism and bigotry in this country. If YLE’s Päivi Happonen and Atte Kaleva’s words are to be believed on Pressiklubi, the Finnish media has finally woken up and writes more balanced stories about migrants and minorities that live in Finland.
Read on »The city of Kaajani, Finland, should do more to make migrants feel safe and welcome
Kaajani is a city of 37,304 people located 560 kilometers north of Helsinki. An African resident whom Migrant Tales spoke to said that she doesn’t feel safe walking alone at certain times of the day in Kajaani.
Read on »Migrants’ Rights Network: Why we should teach migration in schools
Many migrant children feel excluded by their peers and silently endure prejudices, racism, bullying and discrimination. These cruel violations have the power to lock a child’s full potential away.
Read on »One of the things I dislike most about what politicians say about racism
When politicians claim that hard economic times explain why there’s a spike in racism, why people are racist, it is nothing more than an excuse to approve racist behavior. They approve such behavior because they don’t have any issues with their voters venting their hostility towards migrants and minorities.
Read on »Helsingin Sanomat survey on migrants reveals expectations that adaption in Finland is and will be a one-way process
Finland’s largest daily, Helsingin Sanomat, published a survey Friday about the minimum requirements that foreigners should adapt to if living here. Seventy-seven percent fully agreed that white Finns should be able to shake hands with both sexes. The survey showed as well that 52% were against women’s-only swimming hours and that 37% felt that one should bathe naked in the sauna.
Read on »Defining white Finnish privilege #34: Building a political career on privilege and nativist nationalism
Social Democrat MP Satu Taavitsainen found herself in a lot of hot water this week after she published a picture of herself in Instagram wearing a fake Sámi dress. While this is a no-no because minorities like the Sámi may see it as cultural appropriation, an MP like Taavitsainen should know better.
Read on »Ilta-Sanomat continues to publish racist stories even today
It’s disingenuous of tabloid Ilta-Sanomat to publish a story on Monday about legendary Finnish sports television commentator Raimo “Höyry” Häyrinen’s racist comments without taking a long look at itself in the mirror.
Read on »Eva Biaudet: Finland’s ever-culturally and ethnically diverse society in the new century (Part II)
Swedish People’s Party (SPP) MP Eva Biaudet strongly believes that the blueprint to create a just and equal society for everyone in Finland hinges on Nordic and EU values.
Read on »Eva Biaudet: Finland’s ever-culturally and ethnically diverse society in the new century (Part I)
Swedish People’s Party (SPP) MP Eva Biaudet has made a name for herself defending those that don’t have a voice in society and those who are most vulnerable to discrimination and exploitation. If there is a person that can give a picture of where Finland is or should be heading in this century as our country becomes ever-culturally and ethnically diverse, that person is certainly Biaudet.
Read on »Minister Carl Haglund: Sports is an underused yet vital tool for migrant inclusion
A group of 60 experts and others interested in the field of sports and social issues agreed with Minister of Sports Carl Haglund, who stated that sports is an underused tool for social participation and action.
Read on »What’s the difference between a migrant rapist and a white Finnish rapist?
Any sensible person condemns what happened on Monday, when a woman was gang raped by a group of teenagers in the northern Helsinki neighborhood of Tapanila. Some voices, notably the most anti-immigration voices, are demanding an apology from the Somali community. One Somali woman, Ujuni Ahmed, apologized on behalf of the whole community on Helsingin Sanomat
Read on »Racism and time
Racism is harmful because it robs you of one of your most important things in life: time. In the same way that Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1836-70) asked in a poem where sighs, tears and love go,* do we know where time goes after it’s used up? Since humans are social animals, attack and prey on others
Read on »Julian Abagond: nation of immigrants
Migrant Tales insight: Finland is a nation of emigrants, not of immigrants. Even so, the same structures that have kept intact the structures and systemic exploitation of minorities, slavery and Jim Crow are still alive and kicking despite the fact that we try to convince ourselves that the United States is a nation of immigrants.
Read on »Migrant Tales (July 3, 2014): Is ‘Heikki the drunk’ Finnish or Swedish?
Migrants’ Tales insight: This story is interesting when looking at the Fazer gigolo tv commercial in Finland, which reinforces stereotypes about certain migrants and minorities in this country. An all-white board of the Council of Ethics in Advertising, which gets all of its funding from the private sector, will have a difficult time understanding what
Read on »Time warp Fazer of Finland: Stereotyping Mediterranean “gigolos” to sell salt licorice
I was surprised to see Fazer, a Finnish foodservice company, advertising salt licorice on television with the help of a 1980s stereotype of a Southern European gigolo who speaks Finnish with a me-Tarzan-you-Jane accent. Migrant Tales sent an email to Fazer Monday morning about the ad but never got a reply. I did, however, get in touch
Read on »Apparently few migrants and minorities attended the National Sports Forum
Some claim that one of the problems that migrants and minorities face in Finland is that they are underrepresented in different associations. Last Sunday, the National Sports Forum held a meeting in Helsinki to talk about the future of sports in Finland. Gathering from the picture below, it’s clear that few migrants and minorities were
Read on »Is Heikki the drunk Finnish or Swedish?
Some Swedish Finns are up in arms about a children’s book published in Sweden that pictures a wino called Heikki, according to YLE in English. The character in the book, who is lying in a bush next to a plastic bag full of beer, was too much for Swedish Finn Sirpa Lamminpää, who filed a
Read on »Julian Abagond: What did race have to do with the George Zimmerman case?
By Julian Abagond What did race have to do with the George Zimmerman case in America?George Zimmerman, a half-white, half-Latino man who gets a bloody nose and a few scratches on his head, shoots dead Trayvon Martin, an unarmed, 17-year-old black boy, calls it self-defence and is found “not guilty” of both murder and manslaughter
Read on »Migrant Tales 2009: Being an immigrant in Finland – a letter from Ida
The Migrant Tales blog gets emails from people who speak with hand on heart about the challenges they face as immigrants or Finnish with international backgrounds in our society. Here is one of these published in November 2009. The real name of the person has been changed. Here is a letter from Ida:
Read on »guardian.co.uk: France’s minorities under fire
The recent local elections in France witnessed not only increased pressure from the extreme right National Front (FN), but also division within the conservative party in power, the UMP, which fluctuated uncertainly between an alliance with the FN and one with the opposition parties. As for the left, it can hardly be seen as a credible alternative. The situation for minorities in France has therefore become more than difficult. It has become critical.
Read on »Finland also locks up asylum seeker children
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- A child in the Joutseno Immigration Removal Center.
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