Greenland's government chief: I was bullied because I looked Danish

As a child, Greenland's government leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen was bullied because he looked different.

He says this in an interview with Weekendavisen.

With his light skin and Danish father, he did not fit into the class community in a Greenlandic elementary school, where recess became escape attempts, and the teachers' silence made things worse, he tells the newspaper.

"I was bullied because I looked Danish. It's a form of racism; I was targeted because I had a Danish parent, even though I was in the Greenlandic class," he tells the newspaper.

School Ukaliusaq, USK is located in the middle of a social housing complex in Nuuk.

Most of his classmates came from families with social problems. He himself lived in the suburb Nuussuaq, and the social difference was not overlooked in the schoolyard.

According to Jens-Frederik Nielsen, the bullying was severe. Here he experienced being kicked and having his necktie pulled over his entire body while they shouted that he should go back to Denmark.

The politician from the liberal Demokraatit describes to Weekendavisen that the worst part was that none of the teachers really intervened, and he felt it as a kind of silent acceptance of the students' message that he should go to Denmark, even though he was born and raised in Greenland.

Experiences have made him wish for a diverse Greenland and not be afraid of the large number of people with Asian origin on the Greenlandic job market. There should be room for those who contribute, he thinks.

Greenland and Denmark have been family for centuries, and thousands of people have today intertwined roots in both places.

The public is still waiting for the investigation into the historical relationship between Greenland and Denmark over the past 80 years, as well as the investigation into the spiral case.

Weekendavisen's journalist behind the article has lived and worked in Greenland and was in 2016 a colleague of Jens-Frederik Nielsen in the Finance Department.

/ritzau/

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