Family Ties | Fatim Diarra does politics and her brother Bakari makes cool hoodies — “When sometimes I can’t believe in myself, all I have to do is look in my little brother’s direction”

Bakari Diarra:

“My big sister Fatu is ambitious, smart and funny. He is much more outgoing than me and knows everyone in Helsinki.

When I was little, we lived in Munkkiniemi with our father, mother and two brothers. It was always loud and social at home.

I am the youngest of the siblings, Fatu is the oldest, 12 years older than me. When I was little, I often quarreled with my older brothers, and Fatu had to sort out our differences. He took care of us and fooled around with us.

Mother is a nurse from Lapland, father was a doctor from Mali.

When I was little, I wanted to be like my father and my dream was to become a doctor as well. But dad died of a heart attack when I was 10 years old. I don’t want to talk about it though.

I was a really shy and quiet child. I still don’t like it when there are too many people. Fatu and I are both pretty calm by nature.

Fatu went to a French-Finnish school, I went to a Finnish one. My parents thought studying was important, but it didn’t stick with me.

When I was in the first grade, Fatu went to Canada for a year on exchange. It felt like he was there for five years. I really missed it. After coming back, he moved out of the house. We still saw each other regularly. Fatu often took me out to eat sushi, and I hung out with his friends.

Fatu started studying at university, but I can never remember what. When he was young, Fatu was also in some student organization, I guess some president. He often visited the village, but as a teenager I was never at home but always hanging out. Whether I had a wild teenage years depends on who you ask. I was always polite at home.

If Fatu needed help, we drove him with the brothers. Once we moved Fatu’s things from Kampi to Sörnäis with a wheelbarrow, even the cupboards.

Fatu has talked to me a lot about equality since I was little, and I’m a feminist too. It was no wonder he went into politics. Sisko has always been a leader, a strong person. People stay to listen when he speaks. He has charisma. All of us kids have it, it comes from dad. We are big people like dad.

Fatu’s success in politics is amazing. He deserves it. Of course I voted for Fatu, who else. However, we are not exactly talking about politics.

I’ve loved clothes since I was little. I bought them from thrift stores and customized them. I also started selling clothes further on. I belong to the same group of friends as Cledos, an artist from Helsinki. He wanted to release a music video for his self-published single At work, and being the clothes guy that I am, I styled her. None of us had ever made a music video, but we thought we could. The video became a viral hit and changed the lives of my entire group of friends.

Cledos got a recording contract and I continued to style music videos like him and other artists Ibe, Kayaking and Joalin’s with. I’ve never styled Fatu, but it would be fun. I would dress her up flamboyantly because she is such a flamboyant person.

I once made a t-shirt with my own logo on it, fucker, and it became a hit. I founded my own clothing brand, and now I’m running it to my heart’s content.

Fatu is happy about my success and has always cheered me on. Sometimes he has talked to me about my future, told me that I should go to study. But it’s pointless. I do what I do.

I myself have never given Fatu advice on his work. I make hoodies and not politics! We have a good relationship, and we see our family closely. We go to eat with mother or Fatu in Munkkiniemi, where she and her husband live. We have a lot of fun together, everyone throws a lot of claps. For both of us, family is the most important thing.”

Fatim Diarra:

“My little brother Kassu and I have had completely different childhoods. When I was born, my mother was 22 years old and my father was 29 years old. We lived in Jakomäki and were quite poor, because our parents were studying and working their first jobs.

When Kassu was born 12 years later, they had been working for a long time, and our family had a good financial situation. Kassu received many gifts, for example an electronic electric car that he could drive around the yard.

Kassu was a shy child. At my housewarming party, he hid under the bed when people came to mess around. There he also stayed until the party was over.

I took care of Kassu a lot, even as a teenager for my summer job. Sometimes I teased him. I said he was adopted from India and called him the eaves poo because he was as small as a bird poo in the eaves.

I was stubborn. I didn’t tend to negotiate with my parents. I was just stating what I was doing. It was really annoying for them.

Father was strict and conservative. He tried to tell me how I should dress and behave and who I could hang out with.

The father was a Muslim but only to make his mother feel good. He ate sausage and Serrano ham and enjoyed whiskey.

I often got together with my father. The fights led to my going on an exchange to Canada in high school. I often wonder how the little brothers are doing. I missed it a lot. After coming back, I immediately moved out of the house, but only a kilometer away. I wanted to be close to family.

At the age of 23, I was working in a development cooperation project in Senegal when I heard that my father had died of a sudden heart attack. He was only 52 years old and it was a terrible shock to all of us. Mom had always tried to tell dad to remember to rest, but he was working too much.

Father’s death left a huge hole in our lives. He had always been a part of Kassu’s football practices, but now there was no one on the side of the field. Kassu became quieter and more withdrawn. I cried because I was afraid of how my father’s death would affect my brothers, but gradually the joy started to return to Kassu.

I had planned to study abroad, but I stayed in Finland. I didn’t want mom to be left alone with the little brothers. I started taking on the role of the other parent.

When I studied social policy at the University of Jyväskylä, I thought it was selfish not to support the family.

Our family’s financial situation collapsed after my father died. Kassu had no money to go anywhere as an exchange student. While I had bought clothes from Stocka with my father’s card as a wealthy teenager after a poor childhood, my brother had to go to UFF. But Kassu’s creativity was born from the fact that he had no money to play with. He created a business for himself from recycled clothes.

When Kassu was 16, he came to help me and my husband carry the washing machine. He wore pink pants and a Marimekko Unikko denim jacket. What the hell are you wearing, I asked. It was a time before Marimekko also marketed Unikko jackets for men. I took a photo of him and when I visited the Marimekko store, I gave it to the salesperson. He put Kassu’s picture on the shop’s wall.

When Kassu didn’t apply for postgraduate studies, I said, oh my god, you have to go to some school. I was furious because I had already learned from my father that education is the most important thing. But mom reminded me that I can’t expect everyone to do like me.

It’s damn cool that Kassu chose his own path. His clothing brand fucker has been a success. He and his friends have set up a pop-up store many times, announced it on TikTok and Instagram and made teenagers queue up for collections. There have been Kassu’s friends at the performance, such as Isaac Elliott and Cledos.

A couple of years ago, Kassu made a mistake. He had delivery problems due to corona, and people had to wait too long for the clothes they ordered. And what did the dude do? A long video online where he confessed his mistake. I wish there were more people with the same ability in politics.

But the name of Kassu’s clothing brand already tells you that he has balls. It’s the unapologetic blood of Diarra, the heritage of a professional farmer. The same blood that makes me dare to give speeches in front of those who think black people aren’t even human.

When I was young, there were much less guys who looked like us in Finland than there are now. The reality of my little brother’s generation is completely different: there are Finns of different colors and backgrounds, especially in creative fields. In politics, I’m still too often the only brown person in the room.

I am recognized quite often on the street because of my work. I am the chairman of the Helsinki City Council and the Women’s Affairs Union, and the former vice-chairman of the Green Party. But nowadays I get asked more and more often if you are Baka’s sister. That’s cool.

If my brother has any worries, he calls me. I love that he wants to talk to his big sister in difficult moments.

Kassu is much more sensitive than me. I, on the other hand, am quite stubborn, because as the eldest in the family, I am used to fighting for the younger ones.

Sometimes Kassu calls if he needs money. I am happy to be able to buy him a train ticket or help him with the rent sometimes.

Kassu, on the other hand, encourages and cheers me on in everything and shares my political posts on Facebook. When sometimes I can’t believe in myself, all I have to do is look in my little brother’s direction. She supports me 100% and it’s wonderful to borrow her confidence.

Kassu is not terribly interested in politics, but he is super liberal in his values. We have fun together, and I take him out to eat or cook. Sometimes we run into festivals where he appears in a giant possa. Even though we’re doing stuff in a completely different scene, I’m a fan of my brother and I look at him with massive pride.”