Every scar I have makes me who I am.
Anonymous
It is ok to utter the full n-word on Finnish television, as we saw on Friday on the Marja Sannikka show, which turned out to be a fiasco revealing how little homework the host had done and how polarized and ignorant Finnish society is of racism.
Apart from not telling the host Esko Valtaoja that he shouldn’t use the n-word because it is offensive and next to a racialized Finn, Valtaoja exposed his prejudices further when he was quoted in Iltalehti.
Trying to justify his use of the n-word, he stated that the other guest “was white.”
“I don’t understand why an apology is needed. If I had known what this other white person’s [Ebrahimi] reaction would be, I would have used a different way [of expressing myself]. But I couldn’t have known then. We must remember that Ebrahimi is as white as me (sic!). According to my understanding, she is of Iranian-Kurdish background, and her skin color is white.”
Apart from using the full n-word on a talk show, Valtaoja uses his white privilege to classify Ebrahimi’s ethnic background.
Valtaoja is an honorary professor and should know that a person decides a person’s identity.
Valtaoja’s comments get worse and pour more salt on the would of racism and privilege in Finland.