Migrant Tales insight: There is no racism in Finland, right? A black person gets stopped in Tampere by a white 50-year-old who thinks he has so much privilege that he can insult a black man, Imran Adan, in a racist way.
“A man stopped me that for no reason and started to ask why I am in Finland and what I do here,” he said. “Before I could answer him and in near-shock, he said that if I’m not working and not in school, I must be living off social welfare.”
The man gave him advice and told me to whiten my skin if I wanted to get a job.
While such a statement would shock anyone, Adan said that a black man who was watching the conversation told him that he should take the white Finns advice because it would help him get a job.
“I’ve been whitening my skin,” said the black person who had been living in Finland for a year.
For those who don’t know Adan, he works at Tampere University as a coordinator and was a former research assistant.
“The last thing I will ever do is whiten my skin,” he said. “This skin color has remained with me for generations and there is no reason for me to whiten it. I will never change my identity.”
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