We all know how far-right anti-immigration parties like the Finns Party classify migrants as one homogeneous group. They do this for the same reason as a racist would blame a whole group like 1.8 million Muslims for an act of terrorism.
This is common to other racialized groups in other countries. Blacks are all murderers when they kill a white person but a white person who carries out mass murder is a lone wolf or mentally deranged. Members of Group X are all criminals.
While the racist bias of xenophobic groups is not surprising, it is unfortunate that the media becomes an uncritical mouthpiece for their claims. The media knows better and should not refer to all migrants, even asylum seekers, as one unified group.
We should ask why the media and the general public, including some public servants and politicians, generalize about groups irresponsibly.
Their own racism and vantage point of white privilege are certainly factors.
We should demand more critical reporting by the media when speaking of migrants and especially when Islamophobic groups are making their racist rounds in public.
For further information contact:
Enrique Tessieri, chairperson, Anti-Hate Crime Organisation Finland
+358 40 8400773
admin@nohatefinland.org
* Anti-Hate Crime Organisation Finland was founded in September 2018 and registered as an NGO the following month. The aim of the NGO is to tackle and eradicate hate crime and all forms of discrimination in Finland such as anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Afrophobia, misogyny, and other forms of social exclusion through education and training, seminars, events, conferences, among others.