Tell us about your experiences with racism – every story is important

Racism occurs in many forms in the lives of children, both in and outside of the school. Racism is not only insults and bullying, but also something more subtle: different attitudes, prejudices and exclusionary practices. 

All forms of racism have an impact on the growth of children and young people and on their opportunities to move forward in life. It is important to identify racism in everyday life, to be aware of prejudices and to take action to dismantle discriminatory practices.

It is important for an adult to be a safe person to children and young people and always take action against any racism they witness. In the school world, discrimination can also be experienced in interactions with other pupils, away from the watchful eye of the teachers, e.g. during breaks. Because of this, it is important for children to also have the courage to take action in these situations or at least always tell an adult.

Tell us about your experiences with racism

For the theme week and our work against racism, we are now collaborating with the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare to collect children’s and young people’s experiences with racism. Do you know a child or young person who has experienced racism? Or have you experienced or witnessed racism yourself? 

You can recount your experiences with racism on a form in Forms or in the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare’s Nuortennetti service. 

Our objective is to increase people’s awareness and skills, and to encourage everyone to take action against racism. For example, your experience with racism can be related to a lesson or break at school, a hobby, a public place such as a bus or train, or social media. It can have happened recently or years ago – the time of the experience does not matter. 

If stories are published, it will always be done anonymously without people’s real names, and we will ensure that the author cannot be identified. 
 

Learning materials for younger and older pupils

Is it easy to be accepted into our group? What kind of joking around doesn't feel good? Do we intervene in racism? These issues are discussed in the updated ‘Together against racism’ learning materials. 

You can make use of the learning materials during the Week Against Racism or at any time when there is a need to discuss the issue with the class. All learning materials for the theme week can be found here.