If there is an institution that is the epitome of white Finnish privilege that is doing everything possible to hinder cultural and ethnic diversity among its ranks, that institution is the Finnish police service.
Am I exaggerating?
Just go to the police service’s online pages and you will not find a single person who is a visible minority.
Gathering from the police service’s website, women are well-represented but nothing, absolutely nothing, is said about visible minorities never mind the police’s sensitivity towards our ever-growing culturally diverse community.
Visit the Finnish police service’s web page here.
Definition #32
The fact that there isn’t a single visible minority on the Finnish police websites shows us that they are far behind the times of other European nations like the United Kingdom and Sweden.
There must be a lot of opposition to cultural diversity as well if a recent poll showed that about half of the police surveyed claimed to have voted for the National Coalition Party and the anti-immigration populists Perussuomalaiset.*
Read the full story here.
How long does the Finnish police plan to discourage visible minorities from forming part of the police? How long will it take before Muslim women can wear hijabs like in Scotland and be police officers?
Since the police are public servants that serve all people living in this country irrespective of their background. Even so, it seems that diversity continues to have a low priority in the Finnish police service.
We got a sour taste of how the police go as far as to classify who is a so-called “real” Finn and who is a person of foreign origin.
In March 2015, many of us read about a rape case in the Helsinki neighborhood of Tapanila committed by 15-18-year-olds. The police released a statement after the suspects were in police custody and identified them as “five people with foreign backgrounds.”
When Migrant Tales called the police officer in charge of the case and asked if those held in custody were born in Finland and were Finnish citizens, I got the following answer: “I don’t know exactly if all of them are citizens or not because this isn’t an essential piece of information in the case. But some are [Finnish citizens].”
Not an essential piece of information?! The police labeled with one statement that people with foreign backgrounds, which is code for the non-white person, as rapists.
White privilege gives white Finn’s power and privilege and this is clearly evident in the way the Finnish police operates with respect to minorities.
Instead of politicians telling us how much they are against racism, they should do something concrete about challenging structural racism by incorporating more visible minorities to the Finnish police service.
By hiring more visible minorities to the police service will not only help to increase trust between different ethnic communities and the police but help to tackle issues like ethnic profiling, which the police service denies today.
See also:
- Defining white Finnish privilege #1: I have it and you don’t
- Defining white Finnish privilege #2: Third culture children versus “pupil with immigrant background”
- Defining white Finnish privilege #3 No history, no doctrine, no heroes and no martyrs
- Defining white Finnish privilege #4 Holding the short end of the stick
- Defining white Finnish privilege #5 It’s ok to be a racist
- Defining white Finnish privilege #6 Not having a voice and the media
- Defining white Finnish privilege #7 A definitive guide
- Defining white Finnish privilege #8 Underrated and less intelligent
- Defining white Finnish privilege #9 Mohammad Ali’s insight
- Defining white Finnish privilege #10 I can victimize and make up any story I like about migrants because I’m white
- Defining white Finnish privilege #11: Case Teuvo Hakkarainen
- Defining white Finnish privilege #12: Case Tom Packalén
- Defining white Finnish privilege #13: Case Matti Putkonen
- Defining white Finnish privilege #14: Losing sight of the real issue
- Defining white Finnish privilege #15: Case Halla-ago on the PS
- Defining white Finnish privilege #16: Rosa Emilia Clay and my history versus yours
- Defining white Finnish privilege #17:The Perussuomalaiset and our civil rights
- Defining white Finnish privilege #18: Labeling others according to your prejudice
- Defining white Finnish privilege #19: My rape statistics about your group
- Defining white Finnish privilege #20: Labeling Others to strengthen “us” and “them.”
- Defining white Finnish privilege #21: Who can be a Finn?
- Defining white Finnish privilege #22: From racist, fascist to politician without memory
- Defining white Finnish privilege #23: Greater police powers to monitor migrants and minorities
- Defining white Finnish privilege #24: Becoming a heartless accomplice in wars and people’s suffering
- Defining white Finnish privilege #25: This land is my land, this isn’t your land
- Defining white Finnish privilege #26: Are you an ethnic Finn?
- Defining white Finnish privilege #27: White versus Other media
- Defining white Finnish privilege #28: Are you an ethnic Finn (Part 2)?
- Defining white Finnish privilege #29: Your family is worth less than mine
- White Finnish privilege #30: Whitewashing and racializing the news
- White Finnish privilege #31: The Soldiers of Odin and the Finnish media
* The Finnish name for the Finns Party is the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The English names of the party adopted by the PS, like True Finns or Finns Party, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and xenophobia. We, therefore, prefer to use the Finnish name of the party on our postings. The direct translation of “Perussuomalaiset” is “basic” or “fundamental Finn.”