NZ launches ‘Racism is No Joke’ campaign

Wellington: New Zealand Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon has launched the “Racism is No Joke” campaign to raise awareness of racism against Chinese and other Asian New Zealanders.

“Since COVID-19, we’ve seen an increase in racism against Chinese and other Asian New Zealanders ... This campaign will address online racism that often manifests itself in antiAsian memes and jokes,” Mr Foon said in a statement. “These are completely unacceptable, and I know that most New Zealanders don’t find them funny either. We want to raise awareness of the impact this racism is having on Chinese and Asian communities and encourage people to stop sharing Asian ‘jokes’,” Mr Foon said.

A total of 95 complaints were received by New Zealand’s Human Rights Commission from Asian people between September 2019 and June 30, 2020. Of these, 53 were COVID-19 related and 42 were not, according to the commission.

A three-fold increase has been seen in the number of race-related complaints received from Asian people by the Asian Family Services since February 2020, the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in New Zealand.

The “Racism is No Joke” campaign includes a series of short videos featuring comedian, Filipino New Zealander James Roque, discussing racist jokes, and why they are not OK. The videos are being released from on the Facebook page.

The campaign also sets up a community focused Facebook and WeChat group to share resources about racism with members of Asian communities, and to offer a forum for sharing experiences.

Minister for Ethnic Communities Jenny Salesa said there was no shortage of negative content about people of Chinese and Asian descent online.

The minister said some people have acted as though racism against Chinese and Asian people can be justified because of COVID-19.