The Perussuomalaiset (PS)* parliamentary group unanimously expelled Thursday MP Ano Turtiainen [1] until the end of the year for posting a racist tweet about the death of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.
“The suspension is permanent,” PS parliamentary group leader Ville Tavio was quoted as saying in Yle. “We had a discussion that if he wanted, Turtiainen could apply for membership in the [parliamentary] group after the end of the year if he’s corrected his behavior for good.”
Why wasn’t Turtiainen sacked permanently from the party? Because he wasn’t, it is difficult to assess if the outrage of the PS is genuine or just a publicity stunt.
I suspect the PS parliamentary group to be disingenuous. No matter how racist your ideas are, you will always find a home in the PS even after you’ve been expelled.
Apart from placing George Floyd’s purple-colored face on the pavement before he was killed with the words “Pink Floyd,” it is the comment the former PS MP made that was equally disturbing.
In the racist tweet, which he took down Wednesday, claimed that as blacks get more rights, the more unruly they become and the more difficult it is to put them in their places.
Turtainen did not offer any apologies to George Floyd’s family, #BlackLivesMatter, Finnish people of color and people of African decent, but stated that he took down the tweet because it harmed the party.
[1] ”Ano” is a real name in Finland. The equivalent name for women is Anna. The translation of “ano” in Spanish is the anus.
