Last year, I published an article about the colonial history of Greenland, exploring why it and its Indigenous people would want to be independent from Denmark. Since then, the people of Greenland voted Demokraatit, a center-right, moderately independent party, into power. At the same time, President Donald Trump has intensified his effort to buy Greenland from Denmark, Greenland’s former colonial owner. Greenland has achieved autonomy from Denmark, but is not fully independent. Trump had made it clear that he would consider violence as a tactic to annex Greenland, but walked back such statements earlier this month.
Nearly 90% of Greenland’s inhabitants identify as Indigenous Inuit/Kalaallit, and yet, United States officials tasked with working on Greenland completely ignore them. Special Envoy to Greenland, Jeff Landry, wrote a nearly 1,000-word article detailing why a U.S. takeover of Greenland was necessary. Not one word was written concerning Indigenous Kalaallit peoples.
Some may think that this was an accidental oversight on Landry’s part, but it is very clear to me that he intentionally wrote Indigenous people out of the conversation. He opens the article by talking about a World War II army transport ship that was torpedoed in 1943, emphasizing American heroism. Landry explains that Americans have a long history of protecting Greenland, in an attempt to justify annexation.
However, Greenland was 150 miles away from where this occurred, and had nothing to do with the incident other than being the American ship’s destination. And yet, Landry uses this example instead of an incident in 1968, when an American B-52 crashed off Greenland’s northwest coast. Inuit dog sled teams rescued six Americans who had parachuted out of the plane, all of whom were returned safely. Instead of highlighting American-Greenland relations, Landry purports a narrative of Americans rescuing the ‘poor Greenlanders’ from the outside world, denying them their agency and sovereignty, not to mention their Indigenous identity.
Data on Greenlanders’ public opinion also negates Indigenous self-determination as a possibility. In a poll conducted in January 2025, over 80% of Greenlanders said they wanted independence. However, this survey also asked pointed questions, qualifying independence from Denmark with entrance into the United States. These questions take away from the concept of independence, forcing respondents to choose between two colonial powers. This data was also gathered by an independent institution based in Denmark, which could potentially bias results in Denmark’s favor. Either way, asking Greenlanders to choose between two overlords without an option for independent sovereignty says the quiet part out loud: Indigenous sovereignty is not seen as a serious option.
And yet, Kalaallit peoples are completely clear: They are wholly uninterested in supplanting one colonizing force with another. They want independence, sovereignty and self-determination. It’s that simple.
As an Indigenous person watching this issue play out on the national stage, I am frustrated at how simply Indigenous desires are left out of the conversation. Almost every article I read concerning Greenland either ignores the Indigenous identity of the majority of Greenlanders or uses their Indigeneity to prop up an imperial power. What makes me even more worried is the fact that no one I know has noticed this bias in news coverage.
As Americans, Indigenous or not, we must listen to Greenlanders. We must hear what they have to say. We must think of a future in which former colonial powers, like the United States and Denmark, do not possess the right to control Indigenous peoples. We must imagine a world of Indigenous self-determination. Only then can we make that world possible.
