Nowadays, there is no excuse for being ignorant. Research has been conducted, literature is available, and resources are easily accessible. The information is out there if you want to know more about anything. You only have to find it and go through it. The first thing to do is admit that you don’t know it all.
I must first confess, that in social work education in my country, we did not have anything related to race, anti-racism, or multicultural social work unless you were motivated to find out more by yourself. Generally, awareness about different minorities is lacking in Slovakia till today. In many aspects, Slovakia and Finland are similar. The myth of Finnishness, or the myth of True Slovak share common features: white people speaking one language living in one land & discriminating/hating against everyone who does not fit into these descriptions.
Before we move forward, I would like to add that racism in Finland includes Russophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Romanism, anti-Semitism, and assimilation of the Indigenous Sámi population.
In June I went through the Online course on Anti-racism for professionals developed by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) out of pure curiosity. Will there be anything new for me? How the course is structured and made up? The first good thing: YES, I have learned new things. The second one: YES, you can do this course too! It‘s easy to follow and you don’t need any prior knowledge, just an open mind.
The course is available in Finnish and English languages, thematically divided into 16 parts. Videos are usually around 15 minutes long and speakers are well-known professionals and experts.
Even if I liked the idea of the course as a whole package, there were specifically 3 videos that got my attention.
My absolute favourite one was Marko Stenroos’s presentation. He made many good points related to the myth of Finland as a white country with a single culture or ethnicity. He mentioned various cultural and ethnic minorities, that have been part of Finland for centuries, including Sámi people. Groups of Romani people, Russian speakers, Tatars and Jews have been experiencing discrimination and racism for many centuries.
Marginalisation, discrimination, and racism are therefore nothing new, that appeared in Finland with the increased immigration in the last 30 years. What remains problematic is that often solutions are being targeted only at the immigrants while the old minorities are being overseen again.
Increased participation, representation, and acts against the white-washing of history in Finland are crucial antiracist acts. According to Stenroos, if we continue to categorize between new and old minority groups, we maintain the myth of Finnishness. The new immigrants are “the extras” who come to Finland and the old minorities are being forgotten. Instead, if we understand that Finland has always been diverse, it will support the deconstruction of the myth of Finnishess, and help the new and old minorities simultaneously.
Another video I liked was Shadia Rask’s presentation about racism in health services. She presented examples such as the unmet need for health care among the foreign-born population, language obstacles, generally lower trust in the health care system, and availability of health care in comparison with the cultural majority.
Racism is seen in the educational curriculums, books, and clinical practices of health care professionals. There is a lack of skills regarding how to meet and treat diverse populations. Healthcare professionals do not recognize the different symptoms of the illnesses when they are experienced by the minority representative, they do not know how to work with trauma caused by racism and traumatized patients.
Discrimination is also experienced by foreign-born healthcare professionals. Every 5th professional has experienced discrimination either by the patient or a colleague. Healthcare professionals of African origin are the most vulnerable. Their professional competencies, education, or suggestions for the care plan are most likely to be questioned/refused either by the patient, the patient’s family members, or colleagues.
Even if Rask’s video relates to health care, I can find many similarities with social care, social services & social work, together with professional preparation in these fields.
The last video, that I enjoyed the most was the speech of the Kalle da Silva Gonçalves from the Finnish Police on ethnic profiling. He spoke about what police can and can’t legally do when supervising foreign nationals.
The course can give a lot of insights to the general public as well as to the professionals to whom it is intended. I am sure that everyone can pick up something new or at least connect familiar topics differently. The only downside is, that usually those who need such knowledge the most will not make an effort. That is why antiracist education must start much sooner than in our adulthood – in our families, early childhood institutions, and in an age-appropriate way during the whole education.
