As long as we don’t see racism as a big enough problem in our society, our response to it will be inefficient. Just like any illness, we must first diagnose it and then prescribe a cure. It’s disappointing to read how some people can insult others in a racist manner. Yesterday’s news story published…
Tag: Multiculturalism
How can immigrants and visible minorities clear the minefields of misinformation?
There is an interesting news story on today’s YLE that raises a timely question: Not why there is so much misinformation spead about immigrants, but what does this reveal about us as a society? Does it bring to light ignorance or a subtle conspiracy that permits us to have and eat our racist cake simultaneously?…
It’s the cultural diversity, stupid!
Would it be fair to say that the biggest challenge facing Finland during this century is accepting its cultural diversity and deconstructing our white national identity in order to make our society more inclusive? Will this happen easily? The central issue being debated in Finland today about immigrants boils down to one question: How much…
Racism Review: Mixed Race, Pretty Face
It was once thought multiracial children were destined to be confused, inwardly conflicted and maladjusted. “Think of the children”, used to be the warning used to discourage interracial couples from marrying. Mixed-race children often faced discrimination and prejudice. Experts worried that these children would suffer from poor self-esteem and lack of identity (Fields, Julianna. Multiracial…
Journalists should question instead of spread racism and prejudice
Journalists are one group that have helped to spread and reinforce our prejudices and racism of other groups. There’s nothing surprising about this considering that journalists, like the media that employs them, mirror in part what the public feels. Ilta-Sanomat is one tabloid resonsible for spreading racism in Finland during the 1990s. This billboard tells…
Abdirahim’s and Ali’s radio show begins today at 1pm on YLE
Abdirahim Hussein and Ali Jahangiri kick off their weekly hour-long radio program on YLE today at 1pm. I know both persons. I especially like Abdirahim because his sincere no-nonsense about cultural diversity issues. Ali is a talented speaker as well, trying to use humor to address a serious social ill like racism and acceptance. One…
Migrant Tales video blog entry: President Sauli Niinistö’s New Year address 2013
Here’s Migrant Tales’ first-ever video blog entry. We plan to publish more of these in 2013 in English, Finnish as well as in other languages. This is a first attempt so I’m certain there’s a lot of room for improvement. We’ll get better at them as we get more practice.
Promoting tolerance now and tomorrow
In Migrant Tales’ Finland & Cultural Diversity 2012 review, it’s clear that a lot more work needs to be done to promote tolerance. Thanks to Umayya Abu-Hanna’s column on Sunday’s Helsingin Sanomat,* our collective complacency was once again shamefully revealed. Racism, or the lack of acceptance of other ethnic groups as equals in our society,…
Finland & Cultural Diversity 2012*
If 2011 was a watershed year for Finland with the historic rise of a hostile party against immigrants and visible minorities in last year’s parliamentary elections, 2012 will be seen as a bittersweet turning point for the Perussuomalaiset (PS). The year will be remembered as a very violent one for immigrants as well. During “Black…
Mulitucltural Ireland’s vision should be ours as well
Why is it that we don’t hear Finnish politicians speaking in the same manner as Ireland’s President Michael D. Higgins, who said that a major task of the country’s EU presidency should be to remove ignorance and misunderstanding, which lead to “incipient forms of racism,” writes the Irishtimes.com. Speaking at the launch of the Neighborhood…