It Starts with Us: Two Stories That Demand Our Attention and Action

Two very different news stories but each a pointer to how much needs to be ‘fixed’. Each of the stories are symbolic of a bigger and deeper issue, ones that have multiple expressions in our everyday life.

The first has to do with Greenland and Denmark. President Trump’s statements about Greenland have cast an unexpected spotlight on this vast island, a colony of Denmark for over 230 years.

Yet fast forward to today and the reality is that it is a land that has little in common with Denmark – neither culture nor language. Greenland gained home rule in 1979 and autonomy in 2009 but remains part of the kingdom of Denmark, its foreign and security policies all decided in Copenhagen. Greenland’s population of 57 000 is dominated by the Inuit, the indigenous people of the Artic. They have been there for millennia.?

Inuit people living in Denmark (around 17 000) are subjected to the “parental competency” test (known as FKU). The test makes no allowance for cultural differences and as such, has seen newborn children removed from their Inuit mothers at birth and placed in foster homes. When the cover that is FKU is peeled back, one is confronted with stories of discrimination, unimaginable pain and deep trauma. A racist ‘baby test’ that has no place in the twenty-first century. And yet it exists.?

The second story is the Luis Rubiales trial taking place in Spain. The former Spanish football federation chief faces an assault charge against Jenni Hermoso for holding her head and kissing her (and other players) on the lips after her team had won the World Cup. I remember watching at the time and instinctively knowing that a line had been crossed; that what Rubiales did was completely inappropriate and unacceptable. The lead up to the trial has exposed deep rooted sexism within Spanish (and here we could put any number of nationalities) society. It is a case that has divided Spain but what Rubiales did was simply wrong. His subsequent actions (and explanations) have only added to the case against him, notwithstanding the corruption charges he also faces.?

The appropriate punishment could be debated but what is beyond debate is that men in general need a reset when it comes to understanding society’s (at times invisible to them) weighting in their favour…in almost everything. It can range from subtle to overt, but it is there, always there, as any woman will attest to.

This is not a ‘woke agenda’ and anyone who says it is, is part of the problem.

Transformation of society is never easy. It is opposed by those who feel they have something to lose, and they are often the ones in power. Nonetheless, discrimination, in whatever form, needs to be exposed, challenged and eradicated.?

I realise too that this has everything to do with me… the journey starts here, with you… with me. ?

(Header image created with AI)