We are the new minorty
already here, if you like it or not
ready to build whatever needs building
and travel that long difficult path
of acceptance.
Like it or not
we’re your neighbors
and don’t forget, that we’re here
like chimapnzees swinging on birches, sixes and aspens
in this freezing cold
with you, albino monkeys.
Helsinki, early 1980s
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.
When I first heard reports of this story, I couldn’t make sense of it. The news reports said that the boys’ mother, Glenda Moore, had been “denied refuge.” Why would this happen? How could this happen?
Then, reports came that their mother – the woman asking for refuge from the storm – was black (the boys’ father is white but wasn’t there). And, then the story seemed to come into a horrible kind of focus, that implicated racism.
This story is being compared to the infamous ‘Kitty Genovese’ story from years ago in New York – when a young woman was stabbed to death and her neighbors did nothing to help. The not-often-told part of that story is that Kitty Genovese was a lesbian, and that’s part of why her neighbors didn’t call police on her behalf. Her status as an ‘Other’ (lesbian) made her seem less-than-human to her neighbors.
This week, in Staten Island – the ‘fifth borough’ – people there, if reports are accurate, were blinded to the humanity of a mother and her two young sons because of racism.
Ultimately, racism blinds us to our shared humanity, keeps up from seeing each other as fully human, and in need of each others’ help. This time it cost two young lives, and we are all little less for it.
Read original blog entry here.
This piece was reprinted by Migrant Tales with permission.
This story, which was published by German Spiegel Online International, offers some good points on how to challenge ethnic profiling. It’s pretty clear that this illegal practice goes on in Finland as well and is more widespread than believed.
Migrant Tales asked in June blog entry: “How serious is ethnic profiling in Finland? Denials that it doesn’t occur at all by the police suggest that it may be a much wider problem than believed.”
Like any challenge facing society, we need proactive solutions. This story of a black German who was a victim of ethnic profiling on Spiegel Online International is not only inspiring, but offers hope: We can challenge such an injustice with our example.
An important matter to remember if you are harassed in public or are a victim of ethnic profiling and discrimination, is that it’s all about our children and grandchildren. We want them to live in a society that lives up to its values and that its laws should protect everyone.
The black German simply got tired of being constantly stopped by police because of his ethnic background.
“In the two years prior, they [police] had selected me about 10 times for a random check of my identification. It’s a pretty rotten feeling. I was born and raised here. I am German. According to the anti-discrimination law in the constitution, skin color is not grounds for a spot check.”
Read I didn’t want to be treated differently any longer here.
Saul Schubak, the vice chairman of the National Coalition Party’s youth wing, has unleashed a storm due to his views on poverty. Schubak wrote on Facebook that people who aren’t fit to parent should not receive child allowances.
He writes on his original post: ”Child allowances should be definitely eliminated. It’s absurd that we give support to weaker material [parents] to reproduce and then we wonder why there are drug-addicted children that are taken into protective custody from their alcoholic parents.”
Schubak’s views were strongly criticized because they hinge on eugenics, a disgraced pseudo-science that was used before the end of World War 2 to justify racism and ethnic inferiority of other groups.
After the National Coalition Party distanced itself from Schubak’s view, the young National Coalition Party youth leader patched up his original comment by admitting that it was ”a bit indiscreet,” stressing that he wants child allowances to be scrapped for all socioeconomic groups.
Just like racists use the ”we-want-to-debate-openly-immigration” argument, which is only a byword or phrase to bash immigrants, Schubak uses the same tactic to scorn the poor and vulnerable
It’s amazing that whenever these people want to “openly debate” an issue in society, it’s commonly about those groups that are the most defenseless and that have the least means to defend themselves against such attacks.
To what extent can we or should we debate the watering down of our human and Nordic civil rights?
Those that want to undermine and fuel greater social differences and income gaps in our society, not only reveal their contempt for our Nordic welfare state values.
Schubak’s Facebook page picture of him attending the Republican presidential convention speaks a thousand words about his values and political views. His comments about Finland’s poor is no surprise.
Finland hasn’t been the same since the April 2011 elections, when the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party won its historic victory and became Finland’s third-largest party with 39 seats versus 5 seats in 2007. The PS’ latest election flop is another indication that the vast majority of Finns and immigrants are giving the thumbs down to anti-almost-everything populism.
The spoils of last years election victory appear to have weaned considerably. This is good news not only for immigrants in Finland but for the country as well. In the presidential election in January, Finns Party chairman Timo Soini got 9.4% of the votes, while in last Sunday’s municipal election the PS could only muster 12.3%, a far cry from 19.1% it gained in last year’s election.
Many have wondered how is it possible that an anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam party could become in such a short time a major political force in Finland. My guess is the following: Our lack of cultural diversity.
If Finland had larger ethnic and religious minorities, it’s highly doubtful that a radical populist party with a strong anti-immigration message would have ever raised to national prominence as the PS did.
One of the big debates going on in Finland presently is how our ever-growing immigrant population will change our country. While we don’t have a precise answer how it will change Finland in this century, we can say with certainty that it will change the country.
If I had the opportunity to take a fast peek into the future, I would see a society that comprises of many ethnic and cultural groups. I am confident that our cultural diversity will benefit and strengthen us for one main reason: it will ensure that no group ever gets the high ground.
No society is perfect, not even those that claim to be ”near-homogenous” like Finland. Since no society is perfect, never mind one that is culturally diverse, there are many poor examples we should avoid.
One of the most important are those examples that stray away from our values, which are strongly enshrined on acceptance, respect and equal opportunities.
Migrant Tales is always happy about the public recognition it has received in the past. The latest is from Mikko Kapanen of YLE Areena. He considers Migrant Tales to be one of the most influential blogs forums on multiculturalism in Finland.
Click here to listen to the program.
Kapanen published in May a blog entry called, Africa is a country: The geo-branding war.
Harri Taurianen, the new Perussuomalaiset (PS) city councilor of the northern Finnish city of Kemi, is a good example of how the PS continues to attracts a generous number of people who are multiculturally challenged.
Taurianen, who claims it’s good to uphold Finnish values and likes to spread far-right blah blah, imported his campaign slogans directly from foreign groups like the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party.
It appears that the new city councilor got a call on Wednesday from the PS in Helsinki since his Facebook page has mysteriously vanished.
Iltalehti quotes Taurianen giving the following advice to immigrants: ”Check and make sure you have a good reason to move to Finland. Make sure that you are the only person moving to Finland.”
And continues: ”It’s incredible that this human trash [convicted foreign criminals] aren’t put in their places. Put a stamp on their asses and deport them for good from Finland.”
Amon Rautanen of Kotka is another PS candidate who got a boost from his violent threats towards government officials and Muslims.
* The original story mentioned incorrectly Tauriainen’s name as Turtiainen.