racism analysis
this is also one of the things that Pisses Me Off when americans dismiss all of western europe out of hand as basically the same colonialist powers nonsense
anecdotally: i am (among other things) finnish. finland today has....a lot of good things going on, according to outside observers. an overwhelming majority of americans will claim this is because finns, being white, benefited from imperialism
finns were never even Included in the definition of whiteness, in europe
racism analysis
racism based on skin colour is definitely a thing too, and especially problematic now with refugees from parts of the world where melanin exists
but like, in finnish history? the "white" people are the swedes and sometimes the russians. finns are disproportionately well-known in parts of africa for their attempts to help the people there for a Fucking Reason—they went through the same shit a century earlier. admittedly, to a lesser degree
the oppressors never needed to empathise