Birna’s Father: Greenlanders Are Our Friends

Ordinary Greenlanders are reportedly being subjected to some ugly behavior from Icelanders in the midst of coverage of the ongoing investigation of the murder of Birna Brjánsdóttir, and her father has implored the country to not “judge an entire nation due to the actions of one man”.

Nútíminn recently posted a short column by Ragnhildur Stefánsdóttir, wherein she recounted a recent visit to Reykjavík airport. There, she met a Greenlandic woman waiting for a flight to Nuuk.

“I don’t want to be here anymore,” the woman told Ragnhildur. “This wasn’t my fault.”

Ragnhildur asked if something had happened, to which the Greenlander replied, “I can’t help the fact that I’m Greenlandic, and people were shouting things at us at Kringlan and Smáralind, due to the actions of some guy that I don’t even know,” referring to the suspect now in custody in connection with Birna’s death, who happens to be Greenlandic.

“Should people really behave this way?,” Ragnhildur asks. “How petty can we be? I felt ashamed after meeting this woman. I perfectly understand the anger people feel towards the suspect, but we should not judge an entire people [because of it].”

Amongst those who shared this article was Birna’s father, Brjánn Guðjónsson, who added his personal message: “I condemn the behavior of judging an entire nation due to the actions of one man. Greenlanders are our friends, and we should increase our friendship rather than the reverse.”