In this article, we examine the experience of harassment, discrimination and racism of students in 9th grade (aged 15–16) in eight Finnish schools in 2015. The research material comprises semi‑structured interviews with 112 young people in Turku and the Helsinki region. Although harassment, discrimination, and racism are seldom openly outspoken, our analysis show that youth portray multiple forms of them in the interviews, often associated with downplaying and silencing. Young people make ethnicity‑bounded distinctions and categorisations that have their effect on the sense of belongingness. At the worst, these experiences may lead to the underestimation of one’s own abilities to study successfully and find a job in the future.

Peer reviewed