March 2015 - Page 3 of 5

Tärkeä kysymys vailla vastausta: Olivatko Tapanilan joukkoraiskauksesta epäillyt suomalaisia?

Posted on March 20, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Tapanilan joukkoraiskaustapaus on järkyttänyt monet mutta samalla se on tuonut ilmi ikäviä yhteiskunnialisiä asioita kuten välipitämättömyys sekä rasismi. Keskustelu on jyrännyt eteenpäin valtamedian ja sosiaalimedian avulla.

Ihmisten voimakas reaktio sosiaalimediassa ei ole yllättävä, koska yksi Tapanilan joukkoraikkaustapauksen tarkoitus on todennäköisesti ollut vahvistaa meidän ennakkoluuloja toisista ja vahvistaa “me” “heidän” kustannuksella.

Erittäin tärkeä kysymys on uhrin tilanne mutta tapaus avaa toisen tärkeän asian: ketkä ovat suomalasia ja keitä eivät ole. Laillisesti ihminen tunnetaan suomalaiseksi jos hänellä on suomen kansalaisuus. Miksi sitten poliisi kutsuu viittä 15-18 v epäiltyä “ulkomaalaistaustaisia” jos suurin osa heistä on suomalaisia?

Continue reading “Tärkeä kysymys vailla vastausta: Olivatko Tapanilan joukkoraiskauksesta epäillyt suomalaisia?”

The question that everyone forgot to ask: Are the Tapanila sexual assault suspects Finns?

Posted on March 19, 2015 by Migrant Tales

The Tapanila gang sexual assault case last week revealed a lot of ugly things about our society like our lack of willingness to help people in distress, and racism. The debate has raged on with the media and social media leading the charge.

The violent reaction we have seen on social media to what happened isn’t surprising since the aim of the crime in Tapanila appears to be to strengthen our prejudices of other groups and bolster our sense of “us” at the cost of “them.”

An extremely important question that the case has revealed is who is considered a Finn by this society and who is not. In Finland we consider a person a Finn if he or she has Finnish citizenship. Why are we, or specifically the police, calling these five suspects people “with foreign backgrounds” if some of them are Finns?

Is the police using a code word that means “you have Finnish citizenship but you’re not a real Finn?”

In the statement above, the police claimed that the suspects were “five persons with foreign backgrounds” even if the majority were born and grew up in Finland. Is a person with “foreign or immigrant background” anyone we don’t like and do we use the term to reveal that we are a pretty exclusive white society?

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Musta taksikuski, joka on asunut 23 vuotta Suomessa joutui viharikoksen uhriksi

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Tässä ikävä uutinen…

UPDATE (Mar. 17): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism will be updated separately. To see other examples of opinionated journalism in Finland about cultural diversity, please go to this link.

Mar. 17

Krp kiinnostui: Tapanilan raiskaus raivostutti nettikirjoittajat (Ilta-Sanomat)

A good example of disingenuous journalism. If we were to write about how racism spread and got a foothold in Finland in the early 1990s, Ilta-Sanomat would shine above the rest. Its billboards of the 1990s are clear examples of how it fueled racism and bigotry in this country when Somalis started to come to Finland. The story below is another example of their lowly style of journalism. Imagine, the tabloid asks how the rape case in the northern Helsinki neighborhood of Tapanila has infuriated people on the web so much that even the National Bureau of Investigation (Krp) is interested. What Ilta-Sanomat does here is add more fuel to the flames of intolerance by asking such a question and thus giving power and recognition to racists on the web. A underhanded disingenious trick by a tabloid that is no stranger to racist reporting.

Read full story (in Finnish) here.

What’s the difference between a migrant rapist and a white Finnish rapist?

Posted on March 16, 2015 by Migrant Tales

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 today while another one, Abdirahim Husu Hussein, refused to so in a recent blog entry.

While both Ahmed and Hussein have their reasons, and both are fine and acceptable, it’s incredible how we fall into the same trap over and over again when a minority commits a crime.

Sally Kohn, in a tweet below, sums is up perfectly.

Kohn’s tweet in a Finnish context would read:

Somali rapist = entire community guilty (plus majority of the migrant community)

Migrant rapist = all migrants guilty

White Finnish rapist = mentally troubled, lone wolf.

Continue reading “What’s the difference between a migrant rapist and a white Finnish rapist?”

Defining white Finnish privilege #18: Labeling others according to your prejudices

Posted on March 15, 2015 by Migrant Tales

White Finnish privilege gives the right to label others according to the group’s prejudices. The terrible gang rape on Monday and the reaction of the media and police, reveal that white Finnish privilege and labeling minorities to suit one’s prejudices are alive and kicking in this country.

The police call those who aren’t white Finns “people with immigrant backgrounds.” Schools, policy makers, government officials, politicians and a long list of others use that term to mean that person isn’t a white Finn, or “us.”

Another term that doesn’t fuel respect is “mamu,” especially when it is used by white Finns to talk about immigrants.

The problem with this label is that it relegates people to being near-permanent outsiders and thus not worthy of being treated equally because they have “immigrant backgrounds.”

Continue reading “Defining white Finnish privilege #18: Labeling others according to your prejudices”

Using the term “immigrant background” in a bigoted country

Posted on March 14, 2015 by Migrant Tales

In a country like Finland, where even politicians can make political careers with their bigotry, what impact does the label “immigrant background” have in reinforcing intolerance and prejudices?

This question is an important one because, like racism, the label rarely if ever affects white Finns.

The tragic rape of a woman this week by a group of teenagers in the northern Helsinki neighborhood of Tapanila is a case in point.

Even if the police apprehended the five suspects and they were in custody, they labeled them in a statement as having “immigrant backgrounds.” The police said that the ethnic label used in the statement was necessary since they needed more eyewitnesses.

Helsingin Sanomat used the term “immigrant background” in a first take of a story. In a column the daily explained why it took out the ethnic label in a newer take but admitted that it could have been left in the story since the police were trying to get more eyewitnesses.

Even if the daily posed some good questions about the problem in using such a label and if it is ethical under the circumstances that all of the suspects were apprehended, Helsingin Sanomat contradicted itself in another story where it highlighted in a headline that it later changed from “every third sentenced [for rape] was a foreigner” to “Tapanila gang rape suspects have been jailed.”

Continue reading “Using the term “immigrant background” in a bigoted country”

UPDATE (Mar. 13): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism

Posted on March 13, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism will be updated separately. To see other examples of opinionated journalism in Finland about cultural diversity, please go to this link.

Mar. 13

Raiskauksia paljastuu aiempaa enemmän – joka kolmas tuomittu ulkomaalaistaustainen or Raiskauksia paljastuu aiempaa enemmän – Tapanilan joukkoraiskauksesta epäilyt vangittiin (Helsingin Sanomat)

What’s wrong with the below? It’s been a terrible week for Finland’s leading daily Helsingin Sanomat. In reporting a rape case that took place Monday night in northern Helsinki, the police made a mistake by revealing in a statement that the five teenagers were of “immigrant backgrounds.” It is considered unethical to reveal the person’s ethnic identity if the suspect is no longer at large. Two days later Helsingin Sanomat fumbles the ball again with a story about how more rape cases are being brought to justice than before. In the original headline, they state that “every third person sentenced [for rape] is a person with immigrant background.” That problematic headline, which victimizes all migrants, was changed. It now reads: “The suspects of the Tapanila [rape case] will be held in custody.” What do these two stories reveal about the Finnish police and Helsingin Sanomat? Biased and sloppy journalism that is more interested in reinforcing urban tales than challenging them.

Now you see it…

…now you don’t.

UPDATE (Mar. 11): Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Migrant Tales’ 2015 Hall of Poor and Sloppy Journalism will be updated separately. To see other examples of opinionated journalism in Finland about cultural diversity, please go to this link.

Mar. 11

Tapanilan raiskaus ja HS:n uutisointi – Mitä kertoa, kun epäillyt ovat jo kiini? (Helsingin Sanomat)

Some bad and some good journalism. The police said in a statement that a group of 15-18-year-olds who raped a woman on Monday in Tapanila, a neighborhood of northern Helsinki, had “immigrant backgrounds.” A few minutes later after publishing the story Helsingin Sanomat, which relied on the police statement, took out the word since the suspects were in police custody. Stating a person’s ethnic identity can be helpful if the suspect is still at large. This may be problematic, however, since a person with “immigrant background” encompasses a very large group. In practice it is anyone who isn’t a white Finn. In the present xenophobic climate and with parliamentary elections only a month away, some anti-immigration sites are pointing the accusing finger at Helsingin Sanomat for removing the word “immigrant background” in the story as a clear example that Finland’s largest daily favors “foreigners.” A question that should always be asked when mentioning a suspect’s ethnic background is if the person is under custody or is still at large?

Tapanila sexual assault in Finland sends a disturbing signal about our society

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Migrant Tales

Something terrible happened on Monday night after 9pm at the Tapanila train station of northern Helsinki. A group of 15-18-year-olds were reportedly harassing a young woman on a train, who was later sexually assaulted by the same suspects outside the station, according to Helsingin Sanomat.

No respectable news organization or police force with integrity should be interested in spreading racial stereotypes or fueling racial hatred. It’s not considered ethical in journalism to mention the suspect’s ethnicity if the person is under police custody.

Read full story here.

Identifying somebody by ethnicity can be problematic as well. Even if the suspects had been apprehended, the police mentioned in a statement that those under custody were of “foreign background.”

Continue reading “Tapanila sexual assault in Finland sends a disturbing signal about our society”