My first experience of racial violence that I can remember was also accompanied by my first experience of justice and heroism. I want to tell you that story.
Just to give you some background, I grew up in a multinational bubble. I've moved around the world from pretty much day one of my life. My first kindergarten was international, even though we lived in Finland at that time. After that, I went to first grade at an international school in Ethiopia, and then one in Zambia, and so on and so forth.
At some stage - I was between 7 - 9 years old at the time - my family came to spend a few months in Finland. My dad stuck me in a local school for a while. We either lived in Zambia at the time, or were about to move there, and my skin was nut brown from the sun. When I am darker, people can't see the European half in me.
I was bullied a lot. But that's not the main focus here.
At some stage when the school closed for the summer, or maybe just the weekend, a few boys from my class came to ask me to go biking with them. When we got to the school yard, they pushed me off my bike, to the ground, and pulled out water guns and shot water at me, taunting me and calling me a refugee (as if that were an insult!).
And that's when something happened, something that has really shaped who I am. A bigger boy swooped in, told them off, helped me to my feet, and lifted my bike off the ground. He asked if I was OK.
The incident taught me something important. It doesn't matter if it's not 'your battle'. That's not an excuse. I wasn't a refugee, so it wasn't technically my battle. But it still affected me, and thus turned it into my fight, whether I wanted it or not. It wasn't my hero's battle either. He had the position of privilege that comes from belonging to the powerful majority. He could have ignored it. He had a choice, and he chose to make it his battle. That's what made him a hero.
And that's the kind of society we should be building. One where people like that little boy step in and stop bullies, because what we are fighting for isn't about us or them: it is about human dignity.
After all these years, I want to find him, and I want to thank him. He was last seen between 1991-93 on the yard of Kirstin Koulu, Suvela, in Espoon Keskus. I guess he was around 10 - 13, so he would be around 34 - 37 now. So please, share this, and help me find my knight on a bike!
Labels: bullying, Finland, hero, justice, rasicm, reward, TCK, thanks
fon @ 5:41 PM link to post * *
I was also born in outer space. I have an 'Alien's passport' to prove it. Finland didn't care for me, as my parents were not married. Thailand also didn't grant me citizenship because my father was not Thai. Legally speaking, I was nobody's problem. This was almost 33 years ago.
These days, Finland does not require parents to be married in order to prove that a child is a 'legal' citizen, just as Thailand no longer fears a huge influx of regional male migrants trying to gain entry into the country by fathering Thai babies. Both countries eventually saw fit to give me citizenship.
But you can still get one of these in Finland:
Despite all this, my existence was still logged somewhere, albeit in outer space. But there are kids, here in the EU, who 'do not exist' anywhere. On any paper. Not even as an alien.
Many Romanian children are not given legal identity at birth in Romania. And because they do not exist, it is impossible for them to go to school, to the doctor, or get any kind of social security. The Helsinki Deaconess Institute (where I work), works with Romanian families in Valea Seaca. This year, the main goal is to secure identities for Romanians who lack documentation. 25€ buys a child an identity. 50€ will give bring their mother into legal existence. By giving the gift of identity, you make it possible for these families and children to live a better life in their own home country.
It isn't every day I share a campaign on social media, but the idea of home and identity - and of existence - are close to my heart. From my point of view, it is both draconian and archaic that a living and breathing child simply 'does not exist'. Give the gift of identity.
Lahjoita henkilöllisyys! Olemassa-kampanja tukee HDL:n kummikylää Romaniassa.
Labels: discrimination, home, kummikylä, nationalism, olemassa, rasicm
fon @ 1:32 PM link to post * *
My Finnish passport was my first. But I've never felt like a Finn, because every time we visited the country growing up, I was reminded about being a foreigner. As a matter of fact, that Finnish passport I had back then explicitly stated 'Alien passport'.
So my reader will hopefully understand me when I say that 'foreigner' is very deeply a part of the 'Finnish' part of my identity.
To the point: last night's election result scares me, as it probably scares many others who are not mainstream & 'average' Finns. Remember those monsters hiding under the bed when you were a child? I get a similar feeling of unease from the Finnish parliament.
From time to time, we spent a month or two in Finland as I was growing up. One of these times, I attended a Finnish public school. Now I can't help wondering whether one of my classmates who pushed me off my bike and taunted me with calls of 'Vietnamese refugee' is amongst those in parliament.
I can't help but wonder whether someone like that boy who told me he was better than me because I am Chinese voted to get 'my kind' out of the country.
I wonder if the people in that team I worked with, who kept telling me my input on the draft of our text was not needed because I am not a native speaker, are walking around my neighbourhood, relieved by the election results.
I wonder if that 30-something man who said to me as a 16-year-old girl "you Thai ladies know all about this kind of thing" as he grabbed me and kissed me is now making decisions about my life.
I can't help but wonder how many of the people I pass on the street hate me, because I am different. Because I am Chinese, Vietnamese, don't speak Finnish as well, and am a Thai slut here to steal their men and now, their jobs.
Yes, I am scared. Those monsters in the dark didn't disappear. They moved on to scarier tasks.
Labels: discrimination, elections, Finland, nationalism, parliament, rasicm
fon @ 4:45 PM link to post * *