Kalaallit Nunaat. That is what the Greenlandic Inuit, who make up the vast majority of the population in Denmark’s largest autonomous territory, call their home. But you wouldn’t know that name, or that over 88 percent of Greenland’s citizens are Indigenous people, by the way Donald Trump talks about it.
To him, it is a mere land to be claimed in the name of the United States — by any means necessary.
When asked by a reporter Tuesday whether he would rule out using military or economic force to seize the territory, Trump refused. “No. I can’t assure you,” Trump said. “I’m not going to commit to that. It might be that you’ll have to do something.”
Dismissing as a mere distraction Trump’s flirtation with obtaining Greenland or other autonomous lands is perilous. The once and future US president is signaling his desire to return the United States to its colonizing roots — and his refusal to rule out using violent means should shake to their core all Americans who know our nation’s brutal history.
Only Trump knows if he is truly interested in obtaining Greenland for national security reasons as he claims, or if he just loves the endless stream of news headlines he gets every time he mentions it. He’s been toying with the idea at least since 2019, during his first term. His son Donald Trump Jr. even took a “personal” trip there earlier this week.
This could all be trolling. But a closer look reveals that Trump’s proposed gambit is right on brand.
Recall that in his first term, Trump chose to have a portrait of President Andrew Jackson in the Oval Office, calling him “an amazing figure in American history.”
Jackson was not just a general during the War of 1812 and the country’s seventh president, he also spearheaded one of the most brutal acts of genocide in American history with his signing of the Indian Removal Act. What followed was a vicious campaign that forced Indigenous people from their lands, killing thousands in the process that became known as the Trail of Tears. That was a flashpoint that ultimately led to Native American tribes losing 99 percent of their ancestral lands.
Consider further Trump’s demonstrated disdain for predominately Black and brown nations — and even US territories. This is the man who believed Puerto Rican Americans should have been grateful for the paper towel rolls he tossed at them after Hurricane Maria devastated the island.
He should not be trusted to annex any new land in the name of America but certainly not land where Indigenous people have made extraordinary gains in charting their own future.
A decades-long movement for Indigenous sovereignty in Greenland was propelled by a 1979 law granting the territory limited autonomy from Denmark and again by the historic passage of the Self-Government Act in 2009. That law granted the territory far more self-governing rights and the option to seek full independence from Denmark in the future.
Since then, the Inuit people have been in active, continued dialogue with Denmark, with an aim of achieving sovereignty and independence. And unlike most efforts to create a new nation, the discussions have been collaborative and peaceful.
“It’s significant that a peaceful dialogue about exercising the right to self-determination has emerged, and that it has been thought about carefully and incrementally by Inuit in Greenland,” Indigenous rights advocate Dalee Sambo Dorough told me. Dorough is the former international chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, a nongovernmental organization that represents Inuit peoples in Alaska, Canada, far-east Russia and Greenland.
“It’s significant that it’s been treated with such care and also through informed, educated discourse, which is completely missing in today’s American political system,” Dorough said. Also missing is this crucial fact: The future of the Greenlandic Inuit depends on protecting the right natural resources of the territory, which include zinc, diamonds, gold, uranium, oil, and iron ore — resources that would be stripped from their control in a US takeover.
The language Trump and other proponents of seizing Greenland use is, Dorough said, “highly problematic and racially discriminatory — a discussion about buying and selling the traditional territory of Inuit — when in fact the Indigenous Peoples of Greenland, the Inuit, are not merely objects but in fact subjects of international law — meaning that the right to self-determination attaches to Inuit.”
I don’t know if Trump knows that, or if he cares. But Americans should. Spurring a new trail of tears on the other side of the world will not make America great. It will just make us colonizers again.
Kimberly Atkins Stohr is a columnist for the Globe. She may be reached at kimberly.atkinsstohr@globe.com.