Tag: The United States

Migrant Tales (July 8, 2012): The absurdity of the reverse-racism argument in Finland

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Every now and then you’ll hear a visitor on Migrant Tales claim: What about [reverse] racism against [white] Finns!? Racism is a complex problem but one matter singles it out: It is an effective tool to socially exclude, control and exploit other groups in society from vital resources such as jobs and economic wealth. 

The fact that white Finns are the standard of everything in Finland is enough proof that they wield real power. White Finns don’t have to understand racism because they simply don’t have to. It’s not an issue because they are the standard of this society, the norm. Everyone else has a prefix attached to them like immigrant, immigrant descendant, black, Roma etc.

In May 2011, the anti-immigration Perussuomalaiset (PS) party renounced all forms of racism, even positive discrimination, or affirmative action.

It is surprising that when the PS made their preposterous statement, few if any media in this country understood how racist and grotesque it was and how it revealed a serious case of  colorblind racism (let’s pretend we’re equal because ethnic background does not matter, when in fact it does).

Colorblind racism works in Finland in an implicit and explicit manner. Its aim is the same:  ethnic background is not the issue. If it is an issue, it’s your  ethnic background.

  • ·         We have such a wonderful society that we are way past racism so get over it (explicit colorblind racism);
  • ·         It’s your culture, your parents or you that is hindering adaption to our society. In this case I recognize your ethnic background but only to shift blame and wash my hands of the problem (implicit colorblind racism).

Valkoinen valta-2_edited-1

 This graffiti that reads “White Power” in Finnish was on a special elementary school’s wall in Mikkeli, Finland, for months before it was removed. 

Accusing a visible minority, or immigrant of being racist against white Finns, is a good example of implicit colorblind racism.  Since racism isn’t a problem in our society, it can’t be my problem. It’s your problem.

Some successful immigrants or visible minorities who have succeeded in Finland may reinforce the same colorblind racist argument as white Finns. They may claim:  ”I’m not white but I adapted to the white Finns’ world. That is why I am successful. You too can be.”

Those immigrants who have racism issues usually come from countries where such a social ill is the standard. It’s easy for them to accept the white Finn as a standard because they too were the norm in their former home country.  As a result, some embrace the idea of becoming a Tuomo-setä, or Uncle Tom, because they are encouraged to and rewarded by white Finnish society for such behavior.

If you are ever confronted by a person who uses the reverse-racism argument, ask him or her how is the prejudice of a minority as devastating as that of the majority?

White Finns should stop whining about reverse racism because it isn’t an issue. It’s only one of many loaded arguments used by them to justify their racism.

 

 

Racism Review: Idolizing Thomas Jefferson, Brutal Slaveholder and Racist Thinker

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Law professor Paul Finkelman has an important commentary piece in the New York Times on two recent books on the “democratic” icon and famous founder Thomas Jefferson. Much of what most Americans believe about Jefferson’s everyday life in regard to racial matters is fictional or distorted in the direction of our “good” founders are “great liberty and equality advocates” in both thought and everyday practice.

A leading scholar of slavery and our “founding fathers,” Finkelman has much to say about this matter, especially in regard to the very interesting new book by Henry Wiencek that presents much data on Jefferson’s lifelong commitment to slavery and abuse of those he enslaved, including his sexual coercion of the young Black teenager Sally Hemings (see here). Finkelman argues that even Wiencek–who argues the younger and more egalitarian Jefferson becomes more of a hypocritical and money-oriented slaveholder as he ages — is too kind to Jefferson, especially in his early decades:

Jefferson was always deeply committed to slavery, and even more deeply hostile to the welfare of blacks, slave or free. His proslavery views . . . he tried to justify through pseudoscience. . . . when he wrote the Declaration of Independence, announcing the “self-evident” truth that all men are “created equal,” he owned some 175 slaves.

Finkelman adds that Jefferson was not the supposedly “good slaveholder,” the oxymoronic phrase often used for numerous slaveholding founders and other white slaveholders:

He sometimes punished slaves by selling them away from their families and friends, a retaliation that was incomprehensibly cruel even at the time. A proponent of humane criminal codes for whites, he advocated harsh, almost barbaric, punishments for slaves and free blacks.

And Wiencek’s book provides much more evidence of Jefferson’s brutality toward those he enslaved.

Thomas Jefferson is still a top democratic icon for a great many Americans, especially white Americans — with little critical recurring or public attention being given by whites to his everyday practice of extensive and often brutal slaveholding. Jefferson is also a founder (with intellectuals like Immanuel Kant) of early Western “race” framing that aggressively celebrates the white “race’s” superiority in most areas and puts down “inferior races” such as (enslaved) black Americans. You can see this most dramatically in his famous and only major book, Notes on the State of Virgina (see my analysis of Query 14 in that aggressively white-racist-framed chapter of his book here).

Well into the 21st century few Americans, especially few white Americans, know this bloody founding history, and remarkably few seem willing to learn it and examine its implications for our contemporary and still systemically racist society. Why is the historical truth on systemic racism so hard for most whites to accept and publicly discuss in this society?

Note: Paul Finkelman has a very good book, Slavery and the Founders, that I can recommend to you if you want to know more of the hard truths of our founding, slaveholding era and about the slavery-protecting US Constitution crafted by famous founders.

Read original blog entry here.

This piece was reprinted by Migrant Tales with permission.

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Salolainen’s comment about USAmerican Jews exposes a wider problem in Finland

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National Coalition Party MP Pertti Salolainen got himself in hot water Saturday due to a comment he made on YLE Aamu TV morning talk show about USAmerican Jews, reports Helsingin Sanomat. The vice chairman of the foreign policy committee said that American Jews have vast control over the wealth and media in the United States. As a result, this hinders Washington from remaining neutral toward the Palestinians. 

You can read about Salolainen’s statement on the Jerusalem Post as well.

In my opinion, the biggest mistake that Salolainen did was making such a gross generalization in the first place. USAmerican Jews may control part of the country’s wealth and media, how much is another point.

Moreover, for a vice chairman of the foreign policy committee to make such a generalization adds salt to Salolainen’s inopportune comment.

So what’s the lesson we should learn from Salolainen’s mistake?

Never generalize about ethnic and religious groups because you are going to get yourself in big trouble especially if that group has the means to defend itself.

Too many politicians and policy-makers in this country make similar generalizations about immigrants and other ethnic groups.

This explains in party why their policies and expectations aren’t realistic. They are based on stereotypes and myths that aren’t simply true.

 

 

Turun Sanomat: Is dual citizenship a threat to Finland?

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An article on Turun Sanomat quotes Turku School of Economics professor, Kari Liuhto, stating that dual citizenship rights in Finland were a mistake in light of the recent child custody row that erupted in October between Finland and Russia.

Liuhto believes that dual citizenship rights granted in 1999 in this country give Russia the opportunity to increase its influence in our national affairs.

Finland has about 60,000 people with dual citizenship, according to Turun Sanomat.

Is dual citizenship such a big of a threat to Finland as Liuhto claims?

While we can discuss the pros and cons of dual and multiple citizenship, those who see it as a bad thing are usually driven by nationalism, suspicion and loyalty issues.

Some countries permit dual or multiple citizenship while others, like India and China, do not.

The United States, which allows dual citizenship, keeps their citizens on a short leash through the Internal Revenue System (IRS). If you are a U.S. citizen and live abroad and have dual citizenship, you are obliged to file your annual tax statement to the IRS.

It is doubtful that tightening dual citizenship laws will change matters never mind calm Liuhto’s fear of Russia’s influence in Finland. That’s more of an in-between-your-ears issue. But the more nationalism and fear we spread, the greater will be our fear of the outside world and its citizens.

Liuto’s concern is only the tip of an iceberg of a far greater threat facing Finland and Europe these days: nationalism and intolerance.

Apart from draft laws to ban male circumcision and to make it easier to deport foreign convicts from Finland, parties like the Perussuomalaiset (PS) would certainly like to spike dual citizenship rights. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to grasp this.

 This video clip of a draft law spearheaded by PS MP Jussi Halla-aho shows the crackpot stuff these types of politicians say and do to gain attention, listeners and votes.

Finland used to have very strict citizenship laws in the 1919 Constitution. Only the children of male Finnish citizens were given citizenship automatically. If you were a citizen of another country, you lost your Finnish citizenship.

The children of female Finnish citizens were granted full citizenship rights in 1984.

 

 

Julian Abagond: Spielberg’s Lincoln

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By Julian Abagond

“Lincoln” (2012) is a Steven Spielberg film about the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment, the one that freed the slaves. It stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln, Sally Field as his wife and Tommy Lee Jones as Radical Republican Congressman Thaddeus Stevens. Gloria Reuben plays Elizabeth Keckley, Mrs Lincoln’s dressmaker and friend.

The film is based in part on the book “Team of Rivals” (2006) by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Executive summary: “The Help” as costume drama – though Daniel Day-Lewis is amazing as Lincoln.

Best line: When Gloria Reuben says to Lincoln:

White people don’t want us here – any of them. Do you?

Like the “The Help”, Participant Media lists this as one of its films about social action. And like “The Help” it rewrites history as a story about a well-meaning white person, who is not one bit racist, helping blacks by fighting against n-word-using white racists – while blacks largely take a back seat.

While “The Help” had fleshed-out black characters, this film has none. Gloria Reuben comes the closest – she is listed 17th in the credits. In this film about freeing slaves not a single slave appears.

On the other hand it does show black soldiers in the opening scene – so the Helpless Darkies in this one are not quite so helpless.

Although the film takes great pains to make Daniel Day-Lewis look like Lincoln, talk like Lincoln and walk like Lincoln, it whitewashes Lincoln.

In real life Lincoln used the n-word. Spielberg’s Lincoln does not – even though others in the film do.

In real life Lincoln said stuff like this:

… there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will for ever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality.

Spielberg’s Lincoln never says stuff like that. He is for equal rights! This is no longer history, but fantasy. Lincoln was against giving blacks the vote till the last week of his life, and even then it would only be for veterans and the “very intelligent” – Jim Crow stuff.

In real life Lincoln was for ethnic cleansing. He wanted to send blacks away after the war – till Frederick Douglass (not in the film) talked him out of it.

Douglass 11 years after Lincoln’s death said:

President Lincoln was a white man, and shared the prejudices common to his countrymen towards the coloured race.

Racism is not a matter of some misguided whites, like in a Hollywood film. Most whites are not Basically Good, as this film would have you suppose. Most are racist, morally compromised. Lincoln was no different.

What sets Lincoln apart was that he fought against his own racism, against his fallen nature, and did right in spite of it. Instead of giving into it and calling it right. That is the story that went untold. It would be far truer, far more interesting and far more helpful as a model for social action. Instead we get yet another feel-good White Saviour fantasy flick.

Read original story here.

 This piece was reprinted by Migrant Tales with permission.

Check out this blog entry on Spielberg’s Lincoln movie posted by Racism Review.

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

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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.

 

Racism Review: Racism Keeps Us from Seeing Each Other as Fully Human

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Connor and Brandon Moore, ages 4 and 2, are believed to be Hurricane Sandy’s youngest victims. They were swept out of their mother’s arms by the storm.

(Image from here.)

When I first heard reports of this story, I couldn’t make sense of it. The news reports said that the boys’ mother, Glenda Moore, had been “denied refuge.”  Why would this happen? How could this happen?

Then, reports came that their mother – the woman asking for refuge from the storm – was black (the boys’ father is white but wasn’t there).  And, then the story seemed to come into a horrible kind of focus, that implicated racism.

This story is being compared to the infamous ‘Kitty Genovese’ story from years ago in New York – when a young woman was stabbed to death and her neighbors did nothing to help. The not-often-told part of that story is that Kitty Genovese was a lesbian, and that’s part of why her neighbors didn’t call police on her behalf.  Her status as an ‘Other’ (lesbian) made her seem less-than-human to her neighbors.

This week, in Staten Island – the ‘fifth borough’ – people there, if reports are accurate, were blinded to the humanity of a mother and her two young sons because of racism.

Ultimately, racism blinds us to our shared humanity, keeps up from seeing each other as fully human, and in need of each others’ help. This time it cost two young lives, and we are all little less for it.

Read original blog entry here.

This piece was reprinted by Migrant Tales with permission.

Timo Soini on racism: See no evil, hear no evil

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It is surprising how a politician like Timo Soini of the Perussuomalaiset (PS) party can argue anything he wants on television about immigrants and visible minorities. His objection to positive discrimination on a debate on MTV3 Wednesday is a case in point. 

Migrant Tales has  written in the past about colorblind racism, which is one of the most common forms of racism in Finland. On the surface, racial colorblindness may sound fair but the truth is that skin color and ethnic background still play powerful roles in our society.

Writes Psychology Today: “Colorblindness is the racial ideology that posits the best way to end discrimination is by treating individuals as equally as possible, without regard to race, culture, or ethnicity…However, colorblindness alone is not sufficient to heal racial wounds on a national or personal level. It is only a half-measure that in the end operates as a form of racism.”

I still have a hard time figuring out what is worse: Soini’s colorblind statements or the fact that some journalists and politicians still don’t challenge this form of racism more strongly.

Imagine what a political scandal Soini would have faced if he asked to abolish positive discrimination in countries that are culturally diverse and have large immigrant populations.  The PS chairman’s stand on the issue is in the same political league as other far-right parties like the British National Party, Danish People’s Party and teabaggers of the U.S.

I met a member of Hommaforum at a seminar recently who was totally against positive discrimination. Sitting next to us was a black woman from Africa.

I asked him if he thought that Finland was today a society that was way past racism and discrimination. “Do ethnicity and cultural background play a role?” I asked. “What you are saying is that it makes no difference whether you are black or white.”

It’s clear that the PS’ stand on immigration and cultural diversity suffers from colorblindness.

The party’s declaration against all forms of racism in May 2011 is a good example of the colorblind racism that afflicts the PS.

The party may claim that it is for labor immigration and that it has a handful of white immigrant candidates running for city council.  This is only a red herring that aims to cover up the party’s issues with cultural diversity.

Here is a recent blog entry by Migrant Tales that puts in perspective the PS’ thinking on what kinds of immigrants should apply to come to Finland and how they should integrate into our society.

 

Joseph: What being Finnish means to me (Part II)

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This is part II of Joseph’s blog entry, What being Finnish means to me.  Click here to see part I.

By Joseph*

…Later on I discovered rap music to deal with my feelings. There were just so many things wrong in this society that I saw all the Somalis and other foreigners not integrating well enough into Finnish society. They grew up in gangs and were rebelling against a society that had excluded them socially with racism and prejudice.

Something I connected with these people. Maybe it was because of the loneliness or simply due to the feeling of being an outsider that brought us together.

I started hanging around with Somalis at the age of fifteen and I was the only so-called ”white boy” of the group.  Even so, we did all kinds of crazy stuff young adolescents usually do. We connected despite the fact that we came from different cultural backgrounds. We were like brothers growing up in a hostile world.

My friendship with this group resulted in trouble and social workers wanted to take me away from my mom. My mother sent me to live with my dad in the United States,  where I ended up in a boarding school. I got bullied a lot at the new school and was called a Russian because I spoke English with a foreign accent.

Calling me a Russian and being a Finn was as bad as calling a woman a whore. Being a citizen of two nations and being rejected by both is very painful. Racism is a sickness that reveals a person’s fear about something he cannot understand or deal with.

When I came back to Finland and spoke English with an American accent, people no longer recognized me as a Finns. They constantly shouted at me and told me to go back to where I came from. Some even called me a Russian or Arab. In my opinion, the identity we carry is a personal matter that nobody else can place on you.

I get very angry and bitter at my Finnish side when I remember what happened to me as a child and young man. I once even wanted to erase my roots and renounce my Finnish citizenship and move to faraway country.

Despite these initial setbacks, I calmly accept that I am a Finn who is a citizen of this country and who can speak Finnish fluently.  I love my Finnish roots and find inner peace in them when I walk in the woods, whether I am  in Helsinki or sit by a lake enjoying a sauna. I can never forget going fishing at our cottage with my grandpa and all the good times I spent in Finland. I have learned a lot of wisdom from my grandma and grandpa.

What does being a Finn mean to me? It means that even though Finnish people suffered a lot in the past, they managed to learn from their mistakes, pull through, create a vibrant economy, well-functioning social-welfare state and great educational system that is an example for many countries.

I have to forgive those people who mistreated and bullied me in the past because I wasn’t a so-called typical Finn. I understand that not all Finnish people are like them. I can therefore say honestly that some Finnish people who I have met are one of the best people I have ever known. They are so honest, humble and sincere that it is difficult to find people like them elsewhere.

I sometimes fall in tears when I think about what Finland has done for my family.

When I travel abroad, I tell people proudly that Finland is the only country in the world that paid back their debt to the United States. I can never hate the country where my mom and grandparents were born and, importantly, gave us an opportunity to start life anew.

Long live the Finnish Sisu! Be proud of your home country and roots!

* Joseph spoke on condition of anonymity. 

Joseph: What being Finnish means to me (Part I)

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By Joseph*

I came to Finland at the age of three. I spoke only English and understood Spanish since my mother was a Finn who lived many years in Venezuela.  We moved to a small city called Lappeenranta in eastern Finland. It is a beautiful city and the current unofficial capital of Karelia after Finland ceded Viipuri to the Russians after the Continuation War (1941-44). 

When I moved to Finland, I was too young to understand how such a radical change could mark my life. I soon forgot how to speak English and learned to speak Finnish perfectly.

When I moved to Finland, I sensed something wasn’t right. I got bullied by the kids who lived next door to us and who came from so-called functional families. My parents divorced when I was about three years old. I still remember travelling abroad and asking my mother when she’d come back to live with us in Finland.

There is something unique about Finland. There’s the peaceful atmosphere that I have not experienced anywhere else.  Even so, I remember being woken up as a kid at our apartment by yelling and shouting drunks in the street.

Finland still suffers from a deep scar that dates back to the war with Russia and when Finland was a part of Sweden for about 600 years. This continues to affect Finns and their identity. Some feel they are not good enough or that they should be ashamed of their roots because they were ruled for so many centuries by the Swedes and Russians.

I started school at the age of seven and I remember being hit and kicked by five boys. The teacher blamed me for the fight when I told him what happened.

Maybe the hate and xenophobia that some Finns felt about the Russians back then was because Lappeenranta is a border city next to Russia.

I switched schools many times when I was growing up in Finland. I was one of the top Finnish-language students in class getting A’s (10) and B’s (9) on tests.

I switched and promoted my nickname because it was more Finnish than my real name, which is difficult for some to pronounce. My mom spoke Finnish to me and my brothers so we’d fit in better and not get bullied so much by other kids.

As you can imagine, searching for acceptance led to a very rebellious adolescence since I tried finding love in the wrong places. It was a defective way to cure those scars for not having a father and for being mistreated and bullied  continually for just being myself. I was just an innocent little boy who couldn’t understand why all this happened to me.

When i moved to Helsinki at the age of 10, I used to escape the pain I felt inside of me by visiting the public library. I spent as much as nine hours daily in the library reading all kinds of books like literature.

Part II will be published Wednesday. 

* Joseph spoke on condition of anonymity.