With all the noise going on in the United States due to the Jan. 6 Committee hearings, which have shown how former President Donald Trump attempted to stay in power with the help of a coup, one wonders if all that is happening is bad karma. No matter how much exceptionalism people in the United
Read on »Posts Tagged: The United States
A warning to Finland from Washington
TOPLINE One of the big questions to arise from the Capitol storming on Wednesday by hordes of President Donald Trump followers is if the same could happen in Finland and other European capitals. The dust from the Capitol building’s storming by Trump hordes is still settling on a political landscape that appears threatening. Whatever your
Read on »President Trump flirts with a World War if he doesn’t win reelection in November
What is the worse matter about the coronavirus pandemic? Social distancing? Or US President Donald Trump? In my opinion, President Trump and his shoddy leadership and outright lies are far worse than the coronavirus pandemic. His latest lie was contradicting his country’s own intelligence on the origin of the coronavirus. Mark my words: Trump is
Read on »Red Sociology: ASSIMILATION AS ASSASSINATION
MT comment: Even if the blog entry below speaks of assimilation, or one-way integration of blacks in the United States, it’s pretty certain that these types of discussions will pick up in Finland as we become a more culturally diverse society. Who is being assimilated into Finnish society? Are blacks and visible minorities expected to
Read on »Fifty years from Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech
Today marks the 50th anniversary when Martin Luther King Jr.(1929-68) gave his historic “I have a dream” speech. When he gave the speech in Washington on August 28,1963, I was eight years old. Even if I knew nothing about MLK at the time never mind anything about his famous speech, his words would have a
Read on »Julian Abagond: Calling out racism
By Julian Abagond Calling out racism is where you point out that something is racist. It might not seem like a big deal, but it is an important part of fighting racism. It can even stop genocide, as crazy as that sounds. Genocide: Genocides unfold in eight stages. Stopping it at any one stage, stops
Read on »Racism Review: Interracial Cheerios – What We’re Still Ignoring
MT Comment: What would happen if such a commercial were aired in Finland and in other parts of Europe? ________________ A recap for those of you who haven’t been following the cereal saga. On May 28 General Mills aired a YouTube Cheerios ad featuring a Black father, White mother and their young biracial daughter. The
Read on »Whiteness and white privilege speak European languages
As we hold our collective breaths and await to know the identity of the bombings in Boston Monday, too many don’t see a suspect but a whole ethnicity or religious group. Tim Wise put it very well in an opinion piece where he makes some distributing revelations about the power of whiteness. If we understand
Read on »Racism Review: Mixed Race, Pretty Face
It was once thought multiracial children were destined to be confused, inwardly conflicted and maladjusted. “Think of the children”, used to be the warning used to discourage interracial couples from marrying. Mixed-race children often faced discrimination and prejudice. Experts worried that these children would suffer from poor self-esteem and lack of identity (Fields, Julianna. Multiracial
Read on »Of Birds and Feathers: The PS, the Sweden Democrats, and Their American Bedfellows
By Barachiel “Birds of a feather flock together.” I don’t know how or if this saying applies to personal relationships, but it is true in the world of politics. And though they undoubtedly hate to admit it, the populist parties of the Nordics and Europe are not exempt. The PS’ problematic relationship with Suomen Sisu
Read on »Making torture and hate acceptable
Even if the media in the United States speaks of torture as something recent, the truth is that it has been going on for a very long time. These type of barbaric interrogation techniques were widely used in the last century in regions like Latin America. The CIA and the United States trained and promoted torture and state-sponsored terrorism in places like the School of the Americas.
Read on »Migrant Tales (July 8, 2012): The absurdity of the reverse-racism argument in Finland
Every now and then you’ll hear a visitor on Migrant Tales claim: What about [reverse] racism against [white] Finns!? Racism is a complex problem but one matter singles it out: It is an effective tool to socially exclude, control and exploit other groups in society from vital resources such as jobs and economic wealth.
Read on »Racism Review (United States): Racism in 2012 – Year End Review
By Jessie As 2012 draws to a close, I pulled together some of the biggest news in racism for the year. Election Politics – Of course, much of the year we were focused on the racism in election politics. New scholarship on the Obama years, the 2012 election and systemic racism appeared in the Journal
Read on »Migrant Tales (July 8, 2012): The absurdity of the reverse-racism argument in Finland
Every now and then you’ll hear a visitor on Migrant Tales claim: What about [reverse] racism against [white] Finns!? Racism is a complex problem but one matter singles it out: It is an effective tool to socially exclude, control and exploit other groups in society from vital resources such as jobs and economic wealth. The
Read on »Racism Review: Idolizing Thomas Jefferson, Brutal Slaveholder and Racist Thinker
By Joe Law professor Paul Finkelman has an important commentary piece in the New York Times on two recent books on the “democratic” icon and famous founder Thomas Jefferson. Much of what most Americans believe about Jefferson’s everyday life in regard to racial matters is fictional or distorted in the direction of our “good” founders
Read on »Salolainen’s comment about USAmerican Jews exposes a wider problem in Finland
National Coalition Party MP Pertti Salolainen got himself in hot water Saturday due to a comment he made on YLE Aamu TV morning talk show about USAmerican Jews, reports Helsingin Sanomat. The vice chairman of the foreign policy committee said that American Jews have vast control over the wealth and media in the United States. As
Read on »Turun Sanomat: Is dual citizenship a threat to Finland?
An article on Turun Sanomat quotes Turku School of Economics professor, Kari Liuhto, stating that dual citizenship rights in Finland were a mistake in light of the recent child custody row that erupted in October between Finland and Russia. Liuhto believes that dual citizenship rights granted in 1999 in this country give Russia the opportunity
Read on »Julian Abagond: Spielberg’s Lincoln
By Julian Abagond “Lincoln” (2012) is a Steven Spielberg film about the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment, the one that freed the slaves. It stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln, Sally Field as his wife and Tommy Lee Jones as Radical Republican Congressman Thaddeus Stevens. Gloria Reuben plays Elizabeth Keckley, Mrs Lincoln’s dressmaker and friend. The
Read on »Visible minorities and immigrant children – be yourselves and proud of it!
A sentence can change your life. I will share with you one of the greatest moments in my life. It happened when I was in elementary school in Los Angeles, California. My fourth-grade teacher, Mr. Dean Arnold, offered me a sentence that changed my life. He said: “You don’t have to be like a [white] American
Read on »Racism Review: Racism Keeps Us from Seeing Each Other as Fully Human
By Jessie Connor and Brandon Moore, ages 4 and 2, are believed to be Hurricane Sandy’s youngest victims. They were swept out of their mother’s arms by the storm. (Image from here.) When I first heard reports of this story, I couldn’t make sense of it. The news reports said that the boys’ mother, Glenda
Read on »Timo Soini on racism: See no evil, hear no evil
It is surprising how a politician like Timo Soini of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party can argue anything he wants on television about immigrants and visible minorities. His objection to positive discrimination on a debate on MTV3 Wednesday is a case in point. Migrant Tales has written in the past about colorblind racism, which is one of the most common
Read on »Joseph: What being Finnish means to me (Part II)
This is part II of Joseph’s blog entry, What being Finnish means to me. Click here to see part I. By Joseph* …Later on I discovered rap music to deal with my feelings. There were just so many things wrong in this society that I saw all the Somalis and other foreigners not integrating well
Read on »Joseph: What being Finnish means to me (Part I)
By Joseph* I came to Finland at the age of three. I spoke only English and understood Spanish since my mother was a Finn who lived many years in Venezuela. We moved to a small city called Lappeenranta in eastern Finland. It is a beautiful city and the current unofficial capital of Karelia after Finland ceded
Read on »Race Files: Why “Racist” Is Such a Powerful Word
By Scot Nakagawa There’s been a lot of talk in recent years about the term “racist.” Cognitive psychologists, political pollsters, and communications consultants have weighed in about how to talk about racism and advance an equity agenda while not alienating white people by labeling them racists. Many advise never using the term to describe people,
Read on »Julian Abagond: Of mixed-race identities
COMMENT: Some Finns have resolved the “mixed-ethnicity” question by stating that there is only one kind in Finland. Such an affirmation, that there is only one type of “real” Finn, is as ludicrous as stating that racism doesn’t exist in this country. What does a white Finn say when he asks about your “other mixed”
Read on »Julian Abagond: Why I write about racism
By Julian Abagond I write about racism in America because it affects my life and the lives of those I care about. Because it has shaped how I experience and see the world and myself, so by understanding racism I understand myself and the world better. It has little to do with trying to make
Read on »Teach me that we are more alike than different…
…teach me not to hate. Teach me the lie and shame of racism [because] it hurts all people. Teach me to learn from you and to learn about me… Inspirational words from the Center for the Healing of Racism that should be the guiding light enshrined in our national curriculum for schools (opetussuunnitelma) concerning cultural diversity.
Read on »Racism Review: Racism in the Digital Era
Comment: A new term I learned from the video below was cloaked site. The video says at the end that “we have to get smarter about how racism works in the digital age.” ————- By Jessie This is a short video (5:27) I created, explaining how racism operates in the digital era. The danger may
Read on »Du Bois and Finland: “Your country”
I read an interesting blog entry on Racism Review about what W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963), sociologist, historian and civil rights activist, wrote* about blacks in the United States. His words still ring out today in light of the hostility we see today towards immigrants and visible minorities in many parts of Europe and the United
Read on »Exceptional Finns with immigrant backgrounds
Some Exceptional Finns with so-called immigrant backgrounds are Husein Muhammed, Nasima Razmyar, Arman Alizad, Tino Singh, Abdirahim Husu Hussein and Ali Jahangiri. All of them have one thing in common: They are exceptions to the stereotype but have immigrant backgrounds. But how can you call a person who has lived most of his or her life in
Read on »Racism Review: Gabrielle Douglas – Accenting Black Women’s Talent, Agency, Femininity
By Joe Anna Holmes has an excellent post on the great achievement of Gabrielle Douglas, the first African American to win the women’s all-around gymnastics gold medal in the Olympics. (And to win the two particular gold medals she got in this one Olympics.) What an achievement for any 16-year-old, but especially for one who has faced the
Read on »Words have consequences: Deciphering code words of hate in Finland
…hate groups have used conflicts over immigration to advance their White Supremacy, their
Read on »PBS documentary: U.S. Border Patrol, an example we should avoid
When I grew up in Southern California, the object of racist insults weren’t only blacks but especially Mexicans. Even if there were no Mexicans never mind blacks at our elementary school in Hollywood, some students – if not all – had very strong prejudices against them. An investigative documentary by PBS shows that not only
Read on »RACE FILES: Blinkered By Race
By Race Files No, I don’t mean car blinkers. I’m referring to the kind of blinkers that are used to keep race horses looking straight ahead at the jockey’s goal while blinding them to the distractions on either side. Racism blinkers us. It imposes a kind of tunnel vision, causing social problems to appear to
Read on »The absurdity of the reverse-racism argument in Finland
Every now and then you’ll hear a visitor on Migrant Tales claim: What about [reverse] racism against [white] Finns!? Racism is a complex problem but one matter singles it out: It is an effective tool to socially exclude, control and exploit other groups in society from vital resources such as jobs and economic wealth. The
Read on »Racism Review: Frederick Douglass: What, to the American Slave, is Your 4th of July?
By Joe On this Independence day it is well to remember yet again a probing and candid speech, “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro,” given by the formerly enslaved and probably greatest 19th century American, Frederick Douglass, at Rochester, New York, on July 5, 1852, at the peak of North America slavery (indeed, about 230
Read on »Abagond: Kumbaya anti-racism
I dedicate Abagond’s most recent blog entry to the Finnish media. Comment: I met a journalist from a local paper and we spoke about racism in Finland. He said that the daily had a policy of not reporting too many racism cases in the city because it would be acknowledging the problem. The reasoning behind the
Read on »Racism Review: Racial Profiling in France and the U.S., (Pt.1)
By Trica Danielle Keaton On April 11, 2012, the special prosecutor in the Trayvon Martin case issued a second-degree murder charge against George Zimmerman who, in the affidavit, is described as having “profiled” the unarmed 17 year old teenager before firing the fatal shot. In that document, the word “profiled” stands alone without mention of race or
Read on »Blaming undocumented immigrants is sweeping the issue under the rug
The treatment of an ever-growing problem like undocumented immigrants in Finland by the media and politicians resembles a debate where nobody really wants to tackle the issue. Our attention too often shifts to the undocumented immigrant, who is seen as the culprit and root of the problem. The ongoing debate resembles discussing the reasons behind
Read on »Ethnic minorities now make up more than half of all births in the U.S.
By Enrique Tessieri How did some pocket-calculator demographers in Finland and Europe take the news that for the first time in U.S. history minority births surpassed over half of all births? A pocket-calculator demographer is anyone who uses birthrate and calculates it with years to warn us that group x will outnumber us in
Read on »Racism Review: Free Speech for Anti-Semites and Other Racist Folks: Debates in Europe
There are some important and interesting debates on hate speech in Europe, with critics of new and old hate-speech laws often parroting “first amendment” arguments one often hears in the US.
Read on »We must fight for greater cultural diversity representation in our democracy and society
When I grew up in the United States, most if not all of our most popular television series kept us doped in a fantasy world where the only people that counted were white Europeans who spoke English. We read history as well but there was too little about the “other” USAmerican: immigrants, Hispanics, blacks, Native Americans and a long list of other groups that built the United States.
Read on »Colorlines: How to Be a Racial Justice Hero, on MLK Day and All Year Long
As we celebrate a new year and another Martin Luther King holiday, it’s a good time to reflect on how you can be part of some positive change in the year ahead. Rather than the typical resolutions, which can get a bit self-absorbed, why not resolve to step up your game in making social change? The good news is that you already have everything you need, just as you are, to become a powerful force for racial justice. You can be a Racial Transformer.
Read on »Uncovering the tree of hatred
If we could draw a tree that bares these fruits of hatred how would it look like? Would our surprise be to discover that it’s the same-looking tree that continues to cast its shadow on all of our societies for centuries? It still stands mighty and tall because we continue to feed and protect it.
Read on »Coming out into an identity: gay, lesbian, pariah…
There is one line of a film review of Pariah on Colorlines that really caught me: “The film hinges on the belief that there’s no one way to be young, or black, or queer. And while it’s a struggle to come into any identity, those fights are always punctuated by moments of resilience and triumph.”
Read on »Immigration laws reveal what kind of a society we are
Tell me what your immigration laws are and I will tell you what kind of society you live in. Show me how those laws defend minorities and encourage cultural diversity and I will show you hypocrisy.
Read on »Rosa Parks’ humble example lives on
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 1 afternoon of 1955, Parks changed USAmerican history by refusing to give up her seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama.
Read on »How to effectively burn cultural bridges in Finland and elsewhere
If you want to build bridges of understanding between different cultures, you have to learn acceptance, respect, have an open mind and good social communication skills. The total opposite of the above-mentioned are racism, ignorance, pigheadedness and the inability to learn about other cultures and effective communication skills.
Read on »Who is Sarah Palin – what’s going on in the United States?
With only two months left until the November US presidential elections, one wonders what the world will be like after George W. Bush retires back to Crawford, Texas, after plunging his country and the world into an abyss led by colorful-named crusades such as “the war on terror” – an enemy that is everywhere but
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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