Document Actions During the annual End of Summer Festival (Veneziaden) in Karleby this past weekend, I was looking from my apartment window at the crowds of people outside... ( I live in the center of the business district), and there, I saw 3 black youth walking towards the marketplace, where the main attractions were being held.
As I was looking down to the street, there were also 5 young finnish men, very drunk... (it was only 18.30 in the evening.) They were urinating, unashamedly, on the Music building they were standing near, as other festival go-ers passed by... parents with their children, young girls and couples....
Then the black youth walked passed these 5 men. It was obvious to me, that the black teens were eager to get to the concerts and seemed to be in a good mood from what I could see from my window. Suddenly, one of the finnish guys, ran up, directly in the faces of these teenagers and started hurling horrific names and accusations at them, continuing pointing his finger with indecent gestures..
It was shocking, though as a black child, I have seen this kind of thing in Texas in the early 1950-60's growing up. But here we are today, near the year 2006 and still this is going on? It does not appear that we have made much progress... What are some parents teaching their children?
One of the young blacks quickly took off his belt, (to deal with this guy), he was not backing down from this drunk guy. I do not advocate violence, but I do believe that a man should defend himself against those that want to do them harm. The drunk guy still kept pushing, literally, the other teen and then the black guy likewise, pushed him back. I remember a time in Finland, that if a dark skinned person, refugee, etc. would do that kind of thing, they would have been in big big trouble from the surrounding crowd...
In a way, I was "happy" to see him defending himself and his friends, because I remember the days when I lived in Tampere, during the times when refugees came to that city and this same thing was going on all the time around 1989.
Back then though, if you were a refugee, or a dark skinned foreigner simply visiting Finland, and if a Finn attacked you, even if you were doing no wrong, still, the police would throw you in jail, as the Finn would say. to the police.. that the foreigner caused the trouble, and the foreigner, no matter what they said in their defense, were totally ignored....
I think today, things are changing in that respect, thank God. I believe that Finnish policemen and women are more aware of what is really going on, and more than before, do protect foreigners and residents who are dark skinned living in Karleby. The problem remains however, that the police are not usually around when these racial incidents occur.
It was odd to watch all that was happening on the street below. I looked at others on their way to attend the festival, and those standing around with their friends, and not one person said to the drunk guy: "STOP THAT! LEAVE THOSE PEOPLE ALONE! But everyone just looked and stood back. People are so afraid. Or maybe they just don't care?
They never could imagine what it would be like if the situation was reversed, and it was them being attacked and called everything but a child of God. Then they would want someone to come to their aid...
But one feels "safe" it their own country usually. When people go out, they feel free to shop and to walk casually down the street, day or night, in their neighborhood and surely, in the business district of their city, without fear or worry of anyone attacking them.
Still today, to my recollection at least, none of my finnish friends have ever once asked me if this has ever happened to me in the two decades I have lived here? Or, when I have written about racism in Finland over these years, not one friend has ever really commented on the articles?
I am not expecting praise for what I write, but I do hope that what I am writing about, would cause people to reflect on the subject and to realize what is going on, in our own world.
Most look at the News for example and say: "Oh! Look how horrible that is in that country!" Yet we often refuse to see what is happening in our own midst... We are are like the blind leading the blind...
I mean you would think a someone "might" ask a foreign friend, in particular if their race is being attacked, if they have experienced this kind of thing...
I think, personally speaking, that most that I am blessed to know here, do not see me per se as : "black", or a:"muukalainen"= (foreigner). They just see me... I think, as their friend: "Risto-Kalle" (Christian-Charles). So they never even think that these kinds of situations might happen to me. On the other hand, still....
As I watched the drunk guy, leave his other drunk friends standing there, two of them still urinating, this one drunk guy ran after the 3 blacks, continuing to scream obscenities about and to them, in english and finnish, right in the midst of the festival crowd standing outside the hotel.. It was unbelievable. And still no one said or did anything?
Finally the guy turned around and walked back to his friends, making facial fun of the black youth, mimicking them, as if they were monkeys and so on...
Mans' inhumanity to man. My mom used to say: "What you do, when you least expect it, will come back to you."
Still I have hope and faith to believe that there man will realize that we all need in other and color is just that: color. Beautiful. We are all created in God's image and the Lord does not make His children inferior! When we attack each other, verbally or physically, we are attacking our Creator, who made us and likewise, for His good pleasure.
Hopefully putting things in this perspective, will cause some to think twice, before doing something, they may, in the longrun, regret. The world has moe than enough war to deal with at present. Let's not add to it. Peace.
As I was looking down to the street, there were also 5 young finnish men, very drunk... (it was only 18.30 in the evening.) They were urinating, unashamedly, on the Music building they were standing near, as other festival go-ers passed by... parents with their children, young girls and couples....
Then the black youth walked passed these 5 men. It was obvious to me, that the black teens were eager to get to the concerts and seemed to be in a good mood from what I could see from my window. Suddenly, one of the finnish guys, ran up, directly in the faces of these teenagers and started hurling horrific names and accusations at them, continuing pointing his finger with indecent gestures..
It was shocking, though as a black child, I have seen this kind of thing in Texas in the early 1950-60's growing up. But here we are today, near the year 2006 and still this is going on? It does not appear that we have made much progress... What are some parents teaching their children?
One of the young blacks quickly took off his belt, (to deal with this guy), he was not backing down from this drunk guy. I do not advocate violence, but I do believe that a man should defend himself against those that want to do them harm. The drunk guy still kept pushing, literally, the other teen and then the black guy likewise, pushed him back. I remember a time in Finland, that if a dark skinned person, refugee, etc. would do that kind of thing, they would have been in big big trouble from the surrounding crowd...
In a way, I was "happy" to see him defending himself and his friends, because I remember the days when I lived in Tampere, during the times when refugees came to that city and this same thing was going on all the time around 1989.
Back then though, if you were a refugee, or a dark skinned foreigner simply visiting Finland, and if a Finn attacked you, even if you were doing no wrong, still, the police would throw you in jail, as the Finn would say. to the police.. that the foreigner caused the trouble, and the foreigner, no matter what they said in their defense, were totally ignored....
I think today, things are changing in that respect, thank God. I believe that Finnish policemen and women are more aware of what is really going on, and more than before, do protect foreigners and residents who are dark skinned living in Karleby. The problem remains however, that the police are not usually around when these racial incidents occur.
It was odd to watch all that was happening on the street below. I looked at others on their way to attend the festival, and those standing around with their friends, and not one person said to the drunk guy: "STOP THAT! LEAVE THOSE PEOPLE ALONE! But everyone just looked and stood back. People are so afraid. Or maybe they just don't care?
They never could imagine what it would be like if the situation was reversed, and it was them being attacked and called everything but a child of God. Then they would want someone to come to their aid...
But one feels "safe" it their own country usually. When people go out, they feel free to shop and to walk casually down the street, day or night, in their neighborhood and surely, in the business district of their city, without fear or worry of anyone attacking them.
Still today, to my recollection at least, none of my finnish friends have ever once asked me if this has ever happened to me in the two decades I have lived here? Or, when I have written about racism in Finland over these years, not one friend has ever really commented on the articles?
I am not expecting praise for what I write, but I do hope that what I am writing about, would cause people to reflect on the subject and to realize what is going on, in our own world.
Most look at the News for example and say: "Oh! Look how horrible that is in that country!" Yet we often refuse to see what is happening in our own midst... We are are like the blind leading the blind...
I mean you would think a someone "might" ask a foreign friend, in particular if their race is being attacked, if they have experienced this kind of thing...
I think, personally speaking, that most that I am blessed to know here, do not see me per se as : "black", or a:"muukalainen"= (foreigner). They just see me... I think, as their friend: "Risto-Kalle" (Christian-Charles). So they never even think that these kinds of situations might happen to me. On the other hand, still....
As I watched the drunk guy, leave his other drunk friends standing there, two of them still urinating, this one drunk guy ran after the 3 blacks, continuing to scream obscenities about and to them, in english and finnish, right in the midst of the festival crowd standing outside the hotel.. It was unbelievable. And still no one said or did anything?
Finally the guy turned around and walked back to his friends, making facial fun of the black youth, mimicking them, as if they were monkeys and so on...
Mans' inhumanity to man. My mom used to say: "What you do, when you least expect it, will come back to you."
Still I have hope and faith to believe that there man will realize that we all need in other and color is just that: color. Beautiful. We are all created in God's image and the Lord does not make His children inferior! When we attack each other, verbally or physically, we are attacking our Creator, who made us and likewise, for His good pleasure.
Hopefully putting things in this perspective, will cause some to think twice, before doing something, they may, in the longrun, regret. The world has moe than enough war to deal with at present. Let's not add to it. Peace.
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