THIS STORY WAS UPDATED
Helsinki City Councilperson Abdirahim Husu Hussein has been in the eye of a storm over a passenger who harassed him in a racist manner and who he was planning to leave the car at a bus stop but took the person to his final destination.
Hussein posted on Facebook on Sunday that he left the passenger by a bus stop in the freeway but all of this didn’t happen on the day he claimed.
“Only last week,” he said, “a passenger insulted me in a racist manner. I should have asked him to get out of the car, but I didn’t.”
Hussein has filed charges against the passenger who insulted him in a racist manner a week ago.
Even so, and for this mistake, the Helsinki city councilperson has been lynched by social media and print media, which has branded him “a liar.”
That’s not all. The media has put Hussein under scrutiny. One article questioned the veracity of a story that happened a long time ago to him when he woke up in a hospital after being hit with a baseball bat.
The media is not only attempting to take away his credibility but to break and destroy him as a person. The Finnish media uses a bazooka to kill an ant.
Finnish white privilege #66
Racist attacks and near-constant microaggressions and racist remarks against migrant and especially black taxi drivers are a sad fact. Hussein knows this too well.
A Helsingin Sanomat article wrote about the near-constant racist abuse suffered by a Ghanian taxi driver, and most recently, about a Somali taxi driver. There is also the case of a Somali driver who was assaulted. Etonians, who are white, suffer racist abuse from some passengers, too.
But what does Taksi Helsinki say about these cases and the fact that their visible migrant drivers get harassed in a racist manner by passengers?
No media has yet asked the company’s CEO, Jari Kantonen, if it has guidelines for those that drive for them in case a passenger starts to insult them in a racist manner.
Since Friday, I have without luck attempted to get in touch with the Taksi Helsinki CEO. He has not returned my calls.
“There are no such guidelines or training [how to deal with a racist passenger] offered by the [Taksi Helsinki] company,” said Hussein.
Gathering by the reaction of the media, members of his Social Democratic Party (SDP), and public opinion, there is one matter that stands out: The hatred of some white Finns of black people, especially outspoken ones like Hussein.
While I am certain that foreign taxi drivers, especially black drivers, are targets of racist abuse, there is no discussion going on in the media now about such a problem and how taxi companies guarantee their employees safe working spaces.
Even parties like the Social Democrats, of which Hussein is a member, appear to worry more about their poll standings than the rise of racism in Finland and of a racist party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS).* The party’s image is paramount now for the SDP.
The latest opinion poll published by Yle last week showed that support for the SDP had sunk by 1.7 percentage points to 13.9%, with the PS gaining 2.1 percentage points to lead the polls with 23%.
I wrote in May about the hypocrisy and double standards of the Finnish media when it came to another SDP politician, MP Hussein al-Taee. The SDP MP’s and Hussein’s cases expose the dark side, a blind spot of our collective denial of racism in our society and how we treat people of color.
While Hussein has apologized for what happened, it seems that many want blood since he has been outspoken against racism in Finnish society and in parties like the PS.
Many may see this as an opportunity to climb back into their shells and reassure themselves that racism is not a problem in Finland.
Believe me, it is. And Hussein’s case proves it beyond any doubt.
Ali Jahangiri, Hussein’s radio host partner, puts what happened into perspective by tweeting: “#husugate is a good example of the power structures [in our society]. When a member of the minority makes a mistake, he ends up losing all his credibility. Then again, a person [Jussi Halla-aho] in power who dreams of killing homosexuals ends up becoming the head of his party.”
Despite what happened, anti-racism activism will not disappear in Finland but get stronger.
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 a 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
- White Finnish privilege #32: The white Finnish police and “them”
- White Finnish privilege #33: Appropriating our narrative to maintain the status quo, amass more power and privilege
- White Finnish privilege #34: Building a political career on privilege and nativist nationalism
- White Finnish privilege #35: Case Sampo Terho and the ministry of (dis)culture
- White Finnish privilege #36: Hate speech and censorship
- White Finnish privilege #37: The master of near-everything
- Defining white Finnish privilege #38: Cultural appropriation and racism are quaint discussion topics between white Finns
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #39: The Hollywood ending of racism that will never happen in Finland
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #40: To whitewash or to disenfranchise
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #41: An Islamophobic politician and gender equality
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #42: Labeling and shaming
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #43: White versus dark skin
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #44: Defending Nazis’ rights to march is ok as long we agree on the common enemy
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #45: Do blondes have more fun?
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #46: Teuvo Hakkarainen = white racism and sexism
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #47: President Sauli Niinistö’s “culture inside four walls”
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #48: Allow me to smear your religion so mine can shine
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #49: When white privilege backfires
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #50: Caving in to white narratives
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #51: The police are the defenders of white power and privilege
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #52: Having no privilege is dangerous
- White Finnish privilege #53: Plan Finland’s unplanned pregnancy campaign #ProtectBlackGirlsToo #Whatofme
- White Finnish privilege #54: Disguising your racism, bigotry, and prejudices effectively
- White Finnish privilege #55: It’s that time of the year – Christmas!
- White Finnish privilege #56: How Islamophobic is Finland?
- White Finnish privilege #57: Finland’s “hostile environment” against migrants
- White Finnish privilege #58: How the police, media and politicians fuel Finland’s hostile environment against Muslims and migrants
- White Finnish privilege #59: In this country, you are guilty before proven innocent
- White Finnish privilege #60: Oulu, OULU! Awaken and sniff the racist coffee.
- Exposing Finnish white privilege #61: #NoRacismInUniversity #WeAreNotSkinColour
- Exposing Finnish white privilege #62: On free speech and scared white men
- Exposing Finnish white privilege #63: Silence and acting dumb are the swords of institutional racism
- Exposing Finnish white privilege #64: The cancer of institutional racism in Finland
- Exposing Finnish white privilege #65: Racism exists because our society profits from it
*A direct translation of Perussuomalaiset in English would be something like “basic” or “fundamental Finn.” Official translations of the Finnish name of the party, such as Finns Party or True Finns, promote in our opinion nativist nationalism and racism. We, therefore, at Migrant Tales prefer to use in our postings the Finnish name of the party once and after that the acronym PS.