[Joonas J.]

I try to avoid racist thoughts and ideas, but I live in a country that unfortunately has deep racist roots. This doesn’t show as much in direct violence, but more in attitudes in general. Finns haven’t had much dealings with people of other races, except for Gypsies, who are still much hated all over the country. They are viewed as treacherous thieves and bandits even today. Another group that suffers from racist hate is the Somalians, who came here about a decade or so ago as refugees of war. They came here from a war-torn country, only to suffer from racial prejudices.

Finnish racism doesn’t, in my opinion, involve seeing people with different racial backgrounds as intellectually inferior, but more as untrustworthy bums, robbers and rapists who are here only to live off our social security system, or in other words, on the tax money of ‘proper, honest Finns.’ This prejudice is unfortunately too often fed by headlines in our local papers, such as ‘a 23-year-old man with an African background’ raped, robbed or mugged a white Finn. It seems that our unacceptance feeds this lawless behavior, which in turn feeds our prejudices. It is a vicious circle, and it makes it hard for honest immigrants to make a living. I’m not even mentioning the local skinheads’ activities, who went underground a couple years ago, but you can imagine the worst times.

As a native Finn, I have no problems living in my own country, but I meet prejudice almost daily. There is hope, though, in our children. Perhaps they will learn to live without lessened ideals.

User Detail :  

Name : Joonas J., Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Lutheran, Age : 20, City : Vantaa, State : NA, Country : Finland, Occupation : Med student, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Upper middle class, 

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