THE STORY WAS UPDATED If we want to give a massive blow to racism in Finland and parties that promote this social ill, we need to change the language we use when speaking of all those that live here. One label that I have always disliked is “person with migrant or foreign background.” What does…
Tag: racialization
Twitter (Amin A Alem): COVID-19 and the racialization of Others
As xenophobic parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS)* party blame visible minorities for growing coronavirus infections, the same is being spread by people by people who should know better. The rise of a racist party like the PS during the 2010s, which reinforced many Finns’ xenophobic views, suggests that labeling and racializing will continue to pick…
Two Police statements, two different views on the racialization of crime
What happens when a crime happens? Which groups get singled out and what is the age limit for labelling them?
How Finland’s media writes about migrants and minorities: Helsingin Sanomat does it again
This story by Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s largest daily, is a typical example of how migrants and minorities are portrayed in this country: there is a picture of a Somali woman because it is about migrants, and not one member of the non-white Finnish community is interviewed.
Defining white Finnish privilege #37: The master of near-everything
What do independent government agencies like the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman, Ombudsman for Equality, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and National Discrimination and Equality Tribunal have in common? All of them protect and defend the rights of women and minorities in Finland.
Why do some schools in Finland ask if a pupil is “a person of migrant origin?”
Sari Pöyhönen, who wrote in an op-ed piece in Helsingin Sanomat this week, asked why some schools in Finland ask parents if they are migrants, a person with a migrant origin, refugee, returnee, immigrant, temporarily in the country or asylum seeker. It is a good question considering that placing people into such groups is in general illegal in Finland.
Defining white Finnish privilege #32: The white Finnish police service and “them”
If there is an institution that is the epitome of white Finnish privilege that is doing everything possible to hinder cultural and ethnic diversity among its ranks, that institution is the Finnish police service.
Finland is a highly racialized country
Racialization, or ethnicization, is a sociological concept that ascribes racial or ethnic identities to a relationship. In simple terms it is the way that a dominant group ascribes an identity on minorities in order to dominate them. In Finland this is so common that our nationality is mentioned on our drivers license even if we’re…