Hans Egede Statue Bringing Colonialism To Life Of The Inuit Tribe Damaged By Greenlanders

Patung Hans Egede di Greenland (Twitter / @ HansPkleeman)

JAKARTA - The widespread solidarity of the 'Black Lives Matter' (BLM) movement has made the destruction of statues related to the history of discrimination and colonialism even more massive. In Greenland, too. The statue that was damaged was the Danish-Norwegian invader Hans Egede who was in the capital city of Greenland, Nuuk, Sunday, June 21.

The reason for the destruction was none other than Hans' arrival to Greenland in 1721 marking the beginning of the colonial era in the region. Hans, who is also a missionary, is considered to have past sins related to the dark life in Greenland for years. The statue was vandalized by local residents on Greenland's national day.

#stulpture #apostleHansEgede #Nuuk #Greenland #decolonize pic.twitter.com/GWhGkWcyJV

- Hans Peter Kleemann (@HansPKleemann) June 22, 2020

They spoiled it by spraying on red paint and writing the words "decolonization." This movement was a chain response that began with BLM's solidarity over the death of black George Floyd who was killed by the police of Minneapolis, United States (US), Derek Chauvin.

Residents of Greenland then took pictures of the damaged statue. After that, the images are uploaded to various social media. As a result, many Greenlanders supported the movement.

"The Inuit are constantly silenced and never given the opportunity to process the trauma that has been passed down from generation to generation," said a Greenlander who commented on Facebook, Paninnguaq Lind Jensen.

Greenland is home to 56,000 people, of whom were born Inuit. Historically, Greenland was a Danish colony until 1953. However, it was not until 2019 that Greenland was granted autonomy to self-government. Thus, Greenland obtained sovereignty including declaring independence from Denmark.

Even so, some Greenlanders are divided into two camps. First those who believe in declared independence as a long term goal. The other side thinks independence is only feasible in the short term given their economic dependence on Denmark.