Finnish genetics and people

During the summer, I visited the history museum, where they had an exhibition about ancient DNA. I was walking around looking at the artefacts and reading the history, amongst which is written “It is important to remember that genes do not define Finnish identity.”

I think to some this is just some woke bs about diversity, but personally it was such an articulate and touching sentence that connects the history of the Finnish people and the changing future.

I, as an immigrant who came here, do not have the right to define what is Finnish and what is not. I don’t claim myself to be Finnish if I don’t even have citizenship yet. However, despite however racist some Finns can be, I feel very welcomed here.

I came here during high school, now in first year of university. I speak Finnish on a daily basis and it will always be the first language I use to address somebody. I am not as fluent as somebody who is born here; but I still feel very welcomed, as everybody always starts off with me in Finnish. A lot of the times I feel as though they completely forgot that I am not a native speaker. They don’t slow it down or dumb it down for me, rather they just speak as if they were speaking to any other Finnish person.

Now I’m not saying that they see me as a Finn, but it truly feels welcoming when you are not underestimated nor judged for not speaking the language natively. That my fluency doesn’t affect how they see me, despite the skin colour, is so encouraging. I don’t feel like I would get the same experience in, say France or Japan.

This is my own take though. This is something I personally love about Finnish people.