Hyvän puolella

Olen kuluneen viikon aikana lukenut loppumattoman määrän rasisminvastaisia kannanottoja - se jos mikä on paras tapa kuluttaa hetki puhelimen näyttöä tuijottaen! Esimerkiksi #vanhemmatrasismiavastaan- Facebook-yhteisö on koonnut parissa päivässä lukemattoman määrän ihan meitä jokapäiväisiä tallaajia kertomaan mielipiteensä rasismista ja sen vastustamisesta. Ihanat Kiharat-blogisti taasen kirjoitti vallan hyvän yhteenvedon rasismista yleisesti, sitä oli ihan ilo lukea. Ajattelin osallistua itse tähän jakamiseen hieman eri tavalla ja julkaista pätkän esseestä, jonka olen kirjoittanut muistaakseni syksyllä 2013 osallistuttuani Turun yliopistossa järjestettyyn konferenssiin nimeltään Travelling Whiteness - Interchanges in the study of whiteness. Itse esseeni käsitteli kouluissa tapahtuvaa rasistista käytöstä oppilaiden ja opettajian keskuudessa, mutta copypastesin tähän ainoastaan pätkiä esseen introsta. 

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WHITENESS AND RASICM IN FINLAND

In an everyday life people rarely reflect on where do their ideas about different stereotypical characteristics of certain groups of people emerge from, and rarely do they realize that the roots of those stereotypes go far in history. The concept of ‘race’ was developed in the era of colonialism as the racial theories described black people as less intelligent than whites. Black people were told to be lazy, irresponsible and carefree. These claims were argued to be due to a smaller brain size of black people, and even though Charles Darwin proved the arguments wrong already in 1859 by classifying all human ‘races’ under same species, the stereotypes remained. (Gill Tuckwell in Lago 2006, 205)

Racism is a form of oppression, distinguished with discrimination against one group of people, based on an idea that some inherited characteristics make the other group of people inferior to the perpetrators and therefore the actions are justified. Nowadays the term ‘race’ creates a lot of discussion, and there are statements about the term being old-fashioned. That is surely true but nevertheless, race is still a social reality in most parts of the world. (Conradie 2013) The term still holds strong power differences within, affects our behaviour and attitudes in many levels and has shaped the history of generations to its current position. (Gill Tuckwell in Lago 2006, 205) Nowadays the talk about races has shifted into talk about ethnicity. Essed (1996, 8) argues that the term ‘ethnic’ carries the same negative connotations as its predecessor, the only change being made in reasoning: the negative ‘racial’ notions like ‘nigger’ and ‘ugly’ have changed into negative ‘ethnic’ notions such as ‘They misuse our welfare benefits’ and ‘They can’t speak our language’.

Nowadays the racist opinions are often justified with freedom of expression and speech. The Internet age has opened a whole new channel in voicing racist opinions with a cover of anonymity. Although the language of racism has changed and nowadays it is more common to talk about different cultures and ethnicities, the phenomenon has not disappeared, nor have the power differences changed. (Essed 1996, 8) Racism is a pervasive phenomenon, maintained by not only the few people who voice out their opinions but also those who stay quiet and let it happen. As Philomena Essed (2013) puts it, ‘You only make the joke if you are sure other people will laugh.’

The racist ideas against people with African origin are embedded in our Finnish society in many levels. Black individuals face both direct and indirect hostility in the streets of Finland in a form of verbal and physical abuse. Racist ideas can be found in all groups of the society, be it highly educated politicians or laymen in little towns. Currently, there is a new wave of acceptance towards racist opinions. Be it the unstable economic situation or increase of individualistic culture and competition in the job market, but nowadays it seems that prejudice and open suspicion towards people with African origin is widely accepted. I have witnessed this spirit in the street of Helsinki in many occasions: an old lady making a comment in the bus stop about ‘those blacks who make a lot of children and then travel with them for free’ or a man in a metro station, who comes to tell me about ‘a nigger who was caught by the ticket inspector without a valid ticket’. Sadly, I have realized that as for many others, also for me it is difficult to react to these comments with straight confrontation. As Kivel (2011, XVI) assumes, ‘When confronting the reality of racism, we become sad, angry, overwhelmed, numb, anxious and passive.’

The passivity and lack of reaction from passers-by is one of the core problems of racism. I argue so, because I have experienced the situation from the perspective of the object of racially coloured verbal violence and realized very well that the silence of others hurts more than the outbursts of a casual individual. In the specific situation, a young man in a bus stop made loud comments about me - a white Finn - and my Finnish-African daughter. This young man called me the ‘betrayer of my race’ and my daughter ‘a nigger’. Additionally, I have been in several situations where people question my choices of choosing an African partner and make comments about my daughter’s appearance. I have reflected to these situations deeply and realized that my social status in the society is strong, giving me the self-esteem to defend myself. This is not, however, the case in all occasions. Actually, more often the self-confidence of the victim of a racist outburst is low, due to a lower position in the society. Essed (2013) also argues that the aspect of humiliation is the key element in racism. It lessens the self-confidence of an individual and therefore makes it more difficult for him or her to defend oneself. Through humiliation, the perpetrator challenges the sense of dignity of the racial other.

The ideology of Finland as a “white country” remains in the minds of people, even though the first big wave of immigrants came to the country already in the 1990’s and the second generation of people with immigrant background have been born and raised in Finland. The roots of racial otherness in Finland are in the 19^th century, when the whiteness of Finns was under examination. At the same time when other Europeans labelled Finns as descendants of Mongolians, Finns made an effort to change this typing and prove themselves as white. Rastas (in Balayi 2004, 99) argues that these events are in an essential position in creating the idea of “white Finland” and establishing the racial terminology strongly to a country that did not actively take part in colonizing process as other European countries did. 

I argue that immigrants, especially black people are still not seen as part of the public space – they are still not full members of the society, but rather outsiders. They are not seen as part of representation of Finland in media, as Rantala (2013) states in her study about presentation of Finnishness in Finnish TV-adverts. And as Rantala argues in her study, the presentation of white Finland has become increasingly common in the same pace, as the negative attitudes against immigrants in Finland have risen.

Personally, I have reflected upon my whiteness through an incident that happened during my journey in West Africa. I had travelled through Mali by bus and was heading to the border of Burkina Faso. The journey from Bamako, the capital of Mali, to the border of Burkina Faso took ten hours. We were prepared to buy a visa to enter Burkina Faso on the border, but unfortunately we did not know that the visa fees had been increased considerably just two days earlier. Unable to help us, the other passengers continued their way to Burkina Faso and we were left under a mango tree in the yard of a small border guard post. Before the bus took off, we discussed with one passenger and he promised to withdraw money from my bank account in the nearest city in Burkina Faso and bring the money to us. I remember us being calm and relaxed, despite the fact that we were sitting under a mango tree surrounded by desert, without a phone or a bankcard.

We had to wait for approximately five hours, but just before the border was closed for the night at 10pm, our helper returned. We rushed to the small guard office and handed them the money. We felt cheerful, being survived from the situation. We were filling the visa forms when the officer pointed out that my two passport pictures were non-identical. I remember of being almost offended by the remark: How could he pay attention to such a small detail, since we had managed to get the money in an almost impossible situation? I gave a sharp answer and eventually the officer let it go.

It was only recently that I started to reflect on the situation with a perspective of whiteness in my mind. I have realized that in that situation I unconsciously exercised my white power, automatically thinking that I was entitled to get some kind of a special treatment. As Tuckwell (In Lago 2006, 207) states, ‘The journey into white awareness starts with a recognition of the implications of this silence about being white’. With this realization I argue that it would be time for white people to acknowledge how being white influences the position we have in the society and how we all unconsciously sustain and reproduce our hegemonic status. We white people do not see ourselves as privileged, since the practices and power differences are so much embedded to the structures of the society that they become invisible to us. Surely, there is constant talk about the situation of the marginalized groups in the society, but that alone does not reveal the bonuses offered to us due to our status. It is much easier to acknowledge the unprivileged status of others than to realize one’s own priority rights.

Lähteet 

Rastas, A. 2004. Am I still ‘white’? Dealing with the colour trouble. Article. In Balayi: Culture, Law and Colonialism volume 6, 94-106.

http://tampub.uta.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/67975/am_i_still_white_2004.pdf?sequence=1 Accessed 26^th October 2013.

Conradie, M. 2013. “I became part of the racial saga of our country”: Interpretations of racism and emerging perceptions of the state of race-relations in South Africa. Lecture. Held on 19^th October. Traveling whiteness-seminar, University of Turku.

Essed, P. 2013. Entitlement, racism and the quest for dignity. Lecture. Held on 19^th October. Traveling whiteness-seminar, University of Turku.

Essed, P. 1996. Diversity, gender, color & culture. Amherts: University of Massachussetts Press.

Kivel, P. 2011. Uprooting racism: How white people can work for racial justice. 3^rd Edition. Gabriola Island: New Society Publishers.

Rantala, M. 2013. “Is there only one kind of Finnishness? White Finnishness in nationalist TV advertisements. Lecture. Held on 19^th October. Traveling whiteness-seminar, University of Turku.

Tuckwell, G. Specific issues for white counsellors. In Race, culture and counselling – The ongoing challenge 2006, 205-216. Berkshire: Open University Press.