Deputy Parliamentary Ombudsman Jussi Pajuoja mildly reprimanded Internet policeman Marko Forss for tweeting a so-called joke about the Roma, reports YLE. The personal tweet, as Migrant Tales reported in November, spread and strengthened stereotypes about the Roma. What did Forss, who was named policeman of the year in 2011, tweet? “Some funny things happen in police…
Tag: Prejudice
The media should stop stereotyping immigrants!
Black is beautiful, but I have a question: Why is it that whenever there is a story about immigrants or refugees in the Finnish media, the picture that is published with the story is usually of a black man or Muslim woman? Publishing pictures that feed the public a stereotypical image of immigrants does nothing more…
Sara speaks out against the racist harassment her son endured at a school in Mikkeli, Finland
What would you do if you heard that an African single mother decided to leave Mikkeli for Helsinki because her eight-year-old child was a victim of racist harassment or bullying at school? Would you just register the news and brush it conveniently under the rug and reassure yourself that these types of things don’t happen…
The Boston bombings reveal a deadlier blowback
I was shocked to hear about the twin bombs in Boston and my heart goes to the victims. Two days after the incident, however, speculation has been rife about the probable ethnicity of the perpetrator. The eerie silence of the killer suggests that this was probably carried out individually. The latest story on the…
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?…
Common Ground News Service: Spreading “anti-rumours” about immigrants
By María-Paz López Barcelona, Spain –“They are invading us”, “They don’t respect the rules”, “They don’t pay taxes”, “They don’t want to integrate”, “They get special subsidies to open businesses”, are just a few of the often repeated accusations against immigrant communities in Spain. To deal with rising prejudices, Barcelona City Council is now beginning…
How discrimination works in Finnish basketball
If there is a game that is played by people from diverse backgrounds, that game is basketball. When I moved to the United States as a child, basketball was my door to new friends and acceptance. Basketball was a way of life in Hollywood, California, for many young people like me. In Finland it is…
Go for the values and weaknesses of a group if you aim to destroy their self-esteem
How would you go about destroying the self-esteem of a group? If you were an anti-immigration politician, certainly you’d target the group’s values (religion) and exploit your racist arguments by pointing the finger at their most vulnerable weaknesses, like high unemployment. Prejudice and racism are diehard social ills because they take generations to wear off….
Prejudice discourages employers from hiring deaf people
I read an interesting news story on YLE in English about how prejudice hinders deaf people from getting jobs. Sounds like a familiar excuse heard commonly by immigrants, right? The jobless rate of deaf workers and immigrants in Finland is about three times greater than the national average. Unemployment in Finland in April stood at…
Rasismin määrittäminen
Melkein jokaista ihmistä kohden on eri määritelmä rasismista. Jos Suomessa on suunnilleen viisi miljoonaa ihmistä, joten meillä on suunnilleen viisi miljoonaa eri määritelmää rasismille. Tämä voi olla vahvaa karrikointia, mutta ei ole kaukana todellisuudesta. Jos aiomme taistella rasismia meillä on oltava vähintään, jokin selvä määritelmä sille mikä on rasismi. Rasismin voi ajatella Malcolm X:än…