Tag: Cultural diversity

What are immigrants supposed to adapt to?

Posted on by Migrant Tales

One of the biggest questions when speaking of the integration of immigrants and visible minorities in Europe and Finland is what are they supposed to adapt to. In theory everything sounds perfect in our law books. What happens on the ground, however, is a totally different story. 

Kuva 79

This abandoned Cadillac reveals the crude face of integration. Great expectations but difficult to fulfill because the car has no engine. The children of immigrants are one vulnerable group.

The shameful xenophobic and anti-Semitic events going on in Hungary and Eastern Europe, Greece and elsewhere are enough proof that the region has some serious issues to deal with.

In my home country of Finland, matters have gotten so bad that in 2011 the Perussuomalaiset (PS), an anti-EU, anti-immigration and especially anti-Islam party, rose from the minor leagues to become the country’s third-largest political force in parliament.

The PS is today the fertile breeding ground for right-wing extremism in Finland.

Two crucial articles of our Constitution should not be forgotten when speaking about integration:

Chapter 2 Section 6  (No one shall, without an acceptable reason, be treated differently from other persons on the ground of sex, age, origin, language, religion, conviction, opinion, health, disability or other reason that concerns his or her person).

Chapter 2 Section 17 (The right of everyone to use his or her own language, either Finnish or Swedish, before courts of law and other authorities, and to receive official documents in that language, shall be guaranteed by an Act…The Sami, as an indigenous people, as well as the Roma and other groups, have the right to maintain and develop their own language and culture).

I am confident that Finnish officials have the best intentions in mind when they look at the integration of newcomers. There is, however, a major obstacle when speaking of effective integration and inclusion of immigrants in our society: lack of funds and not seeing any worth in cultural diversity.

This shouldn’t surprise us. The whole social construct of Finnish national identity is based on narrow terms. We need, however, to change that culture radically. Instead of reinforcing our exclusiveness, new generations of Finns should be taught the importance of inclusion, mutual acceptance and respect for diversity.

Why would anyone want to embrace the culture and values of any society that is outright hostile to them?

You have a choice in Finland: Become an an Uncle Tom (Tuomo-setä).

In Finland the definition of aTuomo-setä could be any immigrant or visible minority who betrays other people like himself by becoming and adopting the same values that exclude others socially.

Taking into account the negative atmosphere and the inability of Finnish society to accept and permit cultural diversity to become the standard, it would be naive if not foolhardy to forget your roots and identity when adapting.

Your greatest asset to our society is your culture and identity.

It’s not being third-rate white Finn.

Visible minorities and immigrant children – be yourselves and proud of it!

Posted on by Migrant Tales

A sentence can change your life. 

I will share with you one of the greatest moments in my life. It happened when I was in elementary school in Los Angeles, California. My fourth-grade teacher, Mr. Dean Arnold, offered me a sentence that changed my life. He said:  “You don’t have to be like a [white] American since you weren’t born here. Be yourself.”

I felt a huge weight off my shoulders the minute he told me to celebrate who I am and on my own terms.

I don’t know why Mr. Arnold felt compelled to tell me that I should be myself instead of adapting poorly to something else that would end up costing me my precious identity.

All children in Finland and in any country that respects human rights, irrespective if one or both of their parents are from another country, should be given the opportunity to be themselves. They should not only be allowed to celebrate their otherness without fear but encouraged to do so.

One important point, however, Mr. Arnold’s advice strengthened my sense of belonging in the U.S.

 

Finland must do more to ghostbust its race-and-blood myths

Posted on by Migrant Tales

What do the rise of an anti-immigration party like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) and Kokoomus’ Saul Schubak’s statements concerning child allowances have in common?  Setting racism and greed aside, they are the ethnic and social myths that continue to be taught and reinforced at our schools, homes and society. 

One of the biggest myths and social constructs about our national identity is that only one group owns it or, as Schubak claimed, rich people who make money and have conservative views have special rights and privileges in our society.

The mere fact that a person like PS MP Jussi Halla-aho can spew fascist-eugenic ideology from the 1930s and claim that certain groups have less human dignity than others, shows an enormous failure of our educational system that is haunting us today.

One clear characteristic of how racism and discrimination work in Finland is that they tirelessly aim to undermine your rights and place obstacles in front of your path. There are no solutions, only obstacles.

While many racist ideas in Finland have their roots in eugenics and nineteenth-century colonialism, they continue to flourish in some circles like the PS and Schubaks’ National Coalition Party youth wing.

At the best, parties like the PS and Schubak show that Finland is still a predominantly white society that has no intention of relinquishing its privileges to other groups. Values such as social equality (tasa-arvo) are not meant for immigrants and visible minorities. They are for white Finns.

Meanwhile, the Police College of Finland  told Migrant Tales that 2011 hate crime statistics will be probably published by the end of November.

A total of 860 hate crimes reported to the police in 2010, which is a 15% fall from 1,007 cases in the previous year.

While some officials claim that ”hate crimes fell in 2010,” they may reveal a more worrying trend: Reluctance by some immigrants and visible minorities to report such crimes to the police.

 

Migrant Tales Literary: We’re already here (in Finland)

Posted on by Migrant Tales

We are the new minorty

already here, if you like it or not

ready to build whatever needs building

and travel that long difficult path

of acceptance.

Like it or not

we’re your neighbors

and don’t forget, that we’re here

like chimapnzees swinging on birches, sixes and aspens

in this freezing cold

with you, albino monkeys.

                                                     Helsinki, early 1980s

Immigrants that look down on other immigrants

Posted on by Migrant Tales

The eagle never lost so much time, as when he submitted to learn of the crow.

William Blake

Some immigrants who have lived in Finland for many decades have adapted so well to this country that even their prejudices and stereotypes are just like those of the locals. Some, like Alain Chiaroni or Freddy Van Wonterghem, however, go beyond the call of duty to give Africans and visible minorities lessons on how they should integrate into Finnish society. 

What unites Chiaroni and Van Wanterghem other than they are both Perussuomalaiset (PS) party members? Answer: Their reactive views on cultural diversity and visible immigrants like Muslims and Africans.

At least Van Wonterghem, a native of Belgium, has failed miserably on the integration front. He got slapped in March with a 420-euro fine for inciting ethnic hatred against a group.

Despite having lived for 38 years in a foreign country, Chiaroni sounds like a nineteenth-century colonial master from France when he speaks of Somalis and Africans living in Finland.

“You could only get citizenship [in the late-1970s] if you had a sound background, a good education, a job in Finland, had Finnish- language skills, ties to Finland, were well-integrated into Finnish society, had two influential persons recommended you [for citizenship], etc…”, he writes in an Uusi Suomi blog entry.

He continues by stating that certain “political circles” in Finland are of the opinion that our country must adapt completely to those immigrants who move here.

“Has Finland lost its common sense?” he asks.

What Chiaroni forgets to ask is a more important question:  Why Finland had so few foreigners in the 1970s and why there was so little foreign investment in the country?

By around 1980, the biggest “foreign” group living in Finland were Swedes, who were mostly Finns that were naturalized Swedish citizens. In the 1970s, Finland’s foreign population totaled a mere 7,000 souls.

Moreover, Finland did everything possible to restrict foreign investment with the help of the Restricting Act of 1939.

Would I want to live in a country where foreigners, black people and visible immigrants were a rarity and where outside investment was the exception as opposed to the rule?

No thanks.

I like how Finland looks today with all its defects. It’s a million times better than in the Cold War years, when  your otherness followed you around like a shadow that marked you for the rest of your days.

 

Julian Abagond: Of mixed-race identities

Posted on by Migrant Tales

COMMENT: Some Finns have resolved the “mixed-ethnicity” question by stating that there is only one kind in Finland. Such an affirmation, that there is only one type of “real” Finn, is as ludicrous as stating that racism doesn’t exist in this country.

What does a white Finn say when he asks about your “other mixed” side? Is that person asking you why you aren’t white? 

Finns with “other” backgrounds are an ever-growing group in this country. We should remember, however, that being an “other” Finn is not only inclusive to ethnicity.

_________

By Julian Abagond

Some misunderstand my position on mixed-race identities.

In the post on internalized racism I said:

God made you to look a certain way and gave you certain gifts to use in the course of your life. There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of it. Nothing. It is only narrow-minded, brainwashed people who want you to believe otherwise. … Who think there is something wrong with you for just being you.

One commenter remarked:

What kind of people think there is something wrong with you for being you?

{Ping! silent, little explosion goes off in cerebral cortex…)
Yet the writer of this post believes it is a character flaw if a multi-racial brown- or black-skinned person of multi-racial parents says what they are!

She gathered that from a post I wrote about Tiger Woods where I point out that Nas thought it was a character flaw that Tiger Woods defended and excused white racists.

What Nas said in a King magazine interview:

Tiger Woods standing up for this white lady who said something about him being lynched is a coon move to me. God bless the brother. I like to see him doing his thing, but that’s a flaw to his character.

I point out two other examples of the same behaviour by Tiger Woods in the post.

The issue is not mixed-race identity in and of itself. It is trying to kiss up to whites, especially while distancing yourself from people of colour. It is hard for me to respect that. And, in most cases, this behaviour comes from internalized racism, from self-hatred. That is not a healthy thing.

Racial identity in America is not simple, certainly not as simple as applying a set of rules. It is something everyone has to work out for themselves. But not all courses of action are equal, not all are harmless and innocent. It is a moral, political and psychological decision that carries a cost of one sort or other.

Tiger Woods is hardly the only mixed-race person I have written about. For example:

  • Danzy Senna, who can pass for white, sees herself as mixed race but has never distanced herself from being black.
  • Anatole Broyard, who passed for white to become a literary critic, all but disowning his mother and sisters.
  • Peola of “Imitation of Life”, who passed for white and turned her back on her black mother to be accepted by whites.

I have no issue with Danzy Senna, but the other two did the very thing I am talking about. This is not about me imposing the One Drop Rule on mixed-race people, as some think, this is about them being low lifes.

Selling out to whiteness, of course, is hardly limited to mixed-race people. Nearly all White Americans do it. And even some people of colour who are not mixed-race – like Michelle Malkin. Or Rented Negroes. It is what “The Boondocks” makes fun of in Uncle Ruckus.

 

 

 

Enrique Tessieri: Why I write about racism

Posted on by Migrant Tales

I write about racism and social exclusion in Finland because it affects me and those I care about. I should know because I used to live marginalized from this society for decades. 

I didn’t live marginalized because I was maladapted. I was marginalized because I was well-adapted.

Too many didn’t consider me a “real” Finn for a number of reasons. Was it because I wasn’t white enough or was it because the name I carried made me stick out ethnically like a sore thumb?

But what could I have done in 1978, when I moved back permanently to this country? There were so few immigrants never mind people of my ethnic background that you were culturally and ethnically unimportant and out of the loop.

It is a paradox, but the very matters that I loved and admired the most about this country back then were the very things that marginalized and excluded me from this society.

The prototype Finn is a case in point. This social construct of the so-called model Finn that was taught and reinforced in the last century is being challenged as our society becomes more culturally diverse.

Finnish society’s lack of inclusiveness was and still is the main obstacle to equal integration and acceptance.

If you want to find where racism grows its roots in this society, you will find it in the arguments that some white Finns use to exclude you from society. If you want to challenge Finnish racism, the best place to begin is to contest the arguments and actions that reinforce white Finnish exclusiveness.

I write a lot about racism and social exclusion on Migrant Tales.  I write about this topic because Finland is my home and because I want a better future for visible and invisible minorities.  In cultural diversity we will find strength.

I am grateful that I have found such a platform and opportunity to be a part of an ever-growing national debate and social movement that aims to make our society inclusive to all groups.

 

Teach me that we are more alike than different…

Posted on by Migrant Tales

 …teach me not to hate. Teach me the lie and shame of racism [because] it hurts all people. Teach me to learn from you and to learn about me… 

Inspirational words from the Center for the Healing of Racism that should be the guiding light enshrined in our national curriculum for schools (opetussuunnitelma) concerning cultural diversity.

What is our aim when we speak of integration of elementary school students?

Is the goal of the teacher to convert these students into ”white Finns” or to socially exclude them by pointing out how different they are? Is the aim between these two extremes?

Identity is a personal matter. Who you are depends on who you think you are. If some have a problem with this, it should be viewed as their problem, not yours.

Social exclusion is like a toxic poison. If  you take away a child’s identity at an early age by seeing no worth in his ethnicity and background, you’ll end up undermining his or her self-esteem. People with low self-esteem do poorly at school.

Low self-esteem is a factor behind prejudice as well, according to a study published by Psychological Science.

In the same way as racism is costly to society, it can impair children’s learning abilities, according to a study by Essex University.

Even if Finland has become more culturally diverse from the 1990s, the biggest mistake we can make – in my opinion – is forgetting the importance of diversity and values such as mutual acceptance and respect.

Thus Finnish schools should teach their students that we are more alike than different..the lie and shame of racism because it hurts all people.

It should teach student the value of their culture and the culture of others.

 

Norwegian armed forces show cultural sensitivity

Posted on by Migrant Tales

Since July 1, the Norweaign armed forces have relaxed rules for religious headgear, writes the Local, quoting daily Stavanger Afterbladed. It is now possible for Sikh soldiers to use turbans as well as for Jews to use skull-caps while serving in the Norwegian armed forces. Muslim women are permitted to wear a hijab with their uniform. 

Objection to the new military dress code has been voiced by Jan-Arlid Ellingsen of the populist anti-immigration Progress Party.

”The armed forces should be kept independent of ethnic and religious affiliations,” he was quoted as saying on Norwegian news agency NTB. ”It’s fine having symbols to denote affiliation, but it’s entirely unnecessary to show them.”

Ellingsen forgets an important point: The uniform that the Norwegian armed forces uses shows cultural and national affiliation. There is no such thing as “culturally neutral” clothing.