Alice Jäske sat in the waiting room of his local health center and waited for a plasterboard for a broken leg.
"I have to ask, where are you from?" another patient asked him.
Jäske has lived in Finland all his life. All the while, he has often had to prove that he is Finnish because he does not seem to have a traditional image of the Nordic people. The question became a blow.
"It is frustrating. But to avoid an embarrassing situation and remove the easy road, I once again told a completely unknown person about my entire family background. My father is Finnish, but my mother is from Taiwan," Jäske says.
After getting his feet on the plaster, the nurse completes Jäske in a surprisingly good Finnish language. When he left the clinic, Jäske was offered the help of a passerby – in English.
"In a very short time, in a completely everyday situation, mine "Finnishness" was questioned three times. I understand that these comments were not meant to be offensive, but I think it sounds like they should be "us Finns"and that I do not belong" Jäske says.
That series of events is just one example of the micro-aggression that Jäske has faced throughout his life. Micro-aggressions — whether intentional or unintentional — are words or actions that convey a hostile, negative, or derogatory attitude toward a person or people.
Jäske says he shares his story trying to change the world.
"The concept of Finnishness should be expanded to include more people who look different, and not just blonde, blue-eyed Elovena girls," he says.
When praise is not praise
This week is a week of racism and discrimination. People usually think of racism when someone does or says something about racism to another person. But discrimination can take many forms.
Something that sounds innocent can mean someone different. If a person constantly hears that he is somehow wrong or abnormal, he gradually begins to believe it himself.
It happened Janina Ojala. As a girl, she felt a sense of shame and fear when her father bullied her as a Thai while they waited in line at the store. Ojala kept secret because of his friends that his family ate with a fork and spoon at home, not with a knife and fork. He did his best to keep his Thai roots from attracting attention.
"Typically, it comments on how lovely and thick my hair is or how quickly my skin tans. One comment is not a problem, but when you hear things like this every day, they have a big impact on how you see yourself," Ojala explains.
The story continues after the picture.
The comments described by Ojala are known as "exoticism"comments that emphasize the difference by attaching positive stereotypes to it. Ojala has lived in Finland all her life with her Finnish mother and Thai father.
"Although I am now a senior, I like multiculturalism enriching, but in certain situations, I still feel the need to introduce myself in a certain way to others," he says.
At the university, Ojala met others who had experienced similar experiences. With the support of his friend, he finally felt his Thai side embracing him. Now he wants to support others to do the same.
Together with Alice Jäsken and Priska Niemi-Sampan, Ojala created "Miscellaneous Finns", Instagram account, the purpose of which is to provide support and information about mixed-race Finnishness.
Does someone’s appearance make them an immigrant?
As a child, Priska Niemi-Sampan felt just like everyone else, walking to school with her backpack. His family always spoke Finnish at home, even if they lived abroad because of their parents’ relief work.
But Priska was an unusual name, and the look inherited from her Filipino father caught her attention. Soon he found himself constantly answering questions about him "homeland", his language skills and appearance. From the point of view of society, the young girl was a foreigner.
"I felt for a long time that college was not a place for anyone who looks like me. I was not encouraged to go to my school or my hobby. The attitudes of the world around us have a huge impact on how a person sees their own potential," Niemi-Sampan says.
A recent article in a magazine Sociology (link in Finnish) Anna Rastas, A researcher at the University of Tampere specializing in the study of racism, and fellow researchers Sanna Poelman, says that the debate on racism and racial identity in Finland still revolves around immigration.
This is despite the fact that more and more Finns belong to ethnic minority groups.
There have been joint efforts to eliminate racism in Finnish society since Niemi-Sampan was at school, but there is still a lot of work to be done. In 2019, researchers at the University of Helsinki found that jobseekers with foreign voices were less likely to be invited to job interviews than applicants with a typically Finnish name.
Niemi-Sampan experienced similar discrimination after going to university. He helped set up the organization Student of Color, which aims to combat racism in colleges. Now he wants to expand his support beyond the scientific world.
"As a child, I would have longed for support from my peers and now I want to provide a community for young people where they can talk about these thoughts and feelings. Social media is a natural environment for reaching young people and sharing experiences," he says.
In the future, mixed Finns also hope to offer anti-racism training to various organizations.
A world where national identity is more than skin deep
Could Janina Ojala speak Thai if she had dared to practice it as a child? Would Priska Niemi-Sampa feel more confident if she had not spent her life trying to avoid remark? Would Alice Jäske know more about her mother’s culture if she hadn’t felt pressured to hide her Taiwanese at a younger age?
The mix of Finns may not change the world, but it is a step towards a dream shared by three women.
This dream is about a world where someone’s Finnish identity is not defined by their appearance and where a person can belong to several cultures without being seen as an outsider.
Women also challenge Finns to think more carefully about their words, because courtesy of one person may not always know another.
Source: The Nordic Page