A racist is an individual, always an individual, who does not like people based on race – must be conscious – and who intentionally seems to be mean to them.
Robin DiAngelo, sociologist
THIS STORY WAS UPDATED
In English, we have a lot of words for bullshit: baloney, hogwash, crap, wise tales, poppycock, malarkey, snow job, lies, deception, rubbish, and many, many more. Some of these words pop up in my head when I hear politicians from the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party speak about their pet punching bag: migrants, asylum seekers, and minorities.
If we look at DiAngelo’s definition of a racist, it sits well with many, if not all, members of the PS.
One of these politicians is Frist Vice President Riikka Purra. She had the gall to tweet the following question after appearing on Susanne Päivärinta’s talk show: “In your opinion, is it racist to call an African rapist human scum?”
Do we need to answer her offensive and racist question, or does her question answer the question?
Apart from her fear-mongering, about how white Finns will be taken over by people of color, she uses terms like “harmful immigration” and “mass immigration” to justify her racism and hatred of Muslims, Africans, Middle Easterners and people of color in general.
Considering that Finland is one of the whitest countries in Europe, Purra’s claim that white Finns will become a minority is ludicrous. Considering that Finland is the second-most violent country for women to live in the EU, it is disingenuous of her to state that Finland has one of the best cultures in the world for women.
Purra disagreed that Finland is such a violent place for women. She criticized the methodology of the study.
The PS politician should take a look at the mirror and listen to her anti-immigration rhetoric and ask if this is how people of “one of the best cultures in the world” speak to and treat asylum seekers?
She also mentioned that when a person becomes a naturalized Finn it does not make the person “an ethnic Finn.”
What is an “ethnic Finn?” Is there only one type of Finn?
Certainly not, Purra. There are today, as there were before, many types of Finns. There are Afrofinn, Muslim Finns, Russian Finns, and the subcategories are almost endless.
I will say it once again: Purra is a disingenuous politician whose anti-immigration rhetoric is a sham.
* The far-right Perussuomalaiset (PS) party imploded on June 13, 2017, into two factions, the PS and New Alternative, which is now called Blue Reform. In the last parliamentary election, Blue Reform has wiped off the Finnish political map when they saw their numbers in parliament plummet from 18 MPs to none. 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.