Abandoned railroad tracks cut through deep snow, and cold wind rattles the empty window frames of an abandoned fish processing factory in the abandoned village of Kunok. The village of Kunok is nestled between massive glaciers on the edge of Greenland's second largest fjord.

Once a busy Arctic fishing village, Kurnok was one of dozens of traditional Inuit settlements in Greenland whose residents were forcibly relocated to apartment buildings in larger towns by Danish colonial rulers in the 1950s. The period from the 1970s to the 1970s was known as the modernization movement.

Now, for many Greenlanders, these wooden ghost towns bear witness to some of the more painful colonial experiences and serve as a reminder of a universal goal: to one day secure independence.

"It's still a painful past for us, and maybe that's one of the reasons why people feel so strongly against Denmark," said Vittus Qujaukitsoq, a former government minister whose father Forced to leave a village in the far north of Greenland.

Qujaukitsoq's father and his family moved from their home village of Uummannak in 1953, also because the United States was establishing a major air force base in the area. His father spent years suing Denmark over the loss of his home.

Kujakisok said Greenlanders still resent Denmark "because of Danish arrogance and because of the way people are treated." He said that now Greenland should get rid of its colonial history and become independent.

The topic has attracted attention due to incoming U.S. President Donald Trump's interest in the Arctic region and his eldest son's fly-by visit this month. When Trump Jr. talked about the "racism" suffered by Greenlanders, Kujakisok said it resonated with him.

But while Greenlanders overwhelmingly support independence, they are not keen on simply replacing Denmark with the United States to solve the problems independence would cause for the island, which receives much of its budget in the form of Copenhagen grants. , and there is no self-reliance in national defense.

"It's always a duality of the question. If you don't belong to Denmark, then who do you belong to?" said Beli Broberg, leader of the Nallerak party. "But you shouldn't look at it that way."

Nalerak is a small opposition party that takes the strongest stance on independence. Unlike Greenland's main political parties, it believes Greenland is ready to secede and has pledged to immediately launch secession talks if elected.

Nallerak's independence plan - which could include cutting the government budget in half to make up for Denmark's lost block grant - also sees the United States playing a major role.

"What I hope other parties will do in this election cycle is go to America and say: 'Listen, folks, we need a defense deal that will go into effect as soon as we become independent,'" Broberg said.

But America’s enduring interest in the island — Trump is not the first U.S. president to broach the idea of ​​buying Greenland — has left its mark.

In the 1950s, Uummannak, a remote village of 300 people, was shocked when tens of thousands of U.S. troops arrived in northeastern Greenland to build the Pitufik space base. The villagers were then forced to move 150 kilometers north, where the climate was even harsher, and they had to build new settlements from scratch.

The base, the northernmost U.S. military installation, is covered in ice for three-quarters of the year, remains critical for missile warning systems and space surveillance, and reflects Greenland's strategic importance to U.S. security.

After hearing about his ancestors' experiences growing up, Qujaukitsoq also campaigned in government for funding to reverse the environmental damage caused by some 30 U.S. military installations in Greenland during World War II.

But the politician believes Denmark should pay, and his family believes Denmark, not the United States, is responsible for their forced relocation.

"That was done by the Danes," Broberg said. He added that the party's founder grew up in a partially resettled village. "He remembers, when he was a child, people, families being separated because of these relocation plans. It was done to save Denmark money."

He said Greenlanders were happy to see the U.S. presence expand. "If they want to build 30 new bases on our East Coast, be my guest."

"The United States is protecting us, that's a fact, as they have been for the past 83 years," said Kujakisok, a former Greenland finance minister and foreign minister. “So what’s the point of this anti-American sentiment?”

Justice, Gender and Mineral Resources Minister Naaja Nathanielsen said frustration with the experience of Danish rule was a big motivator for Greenlanders' desire for independence, and said she also found an element in Trump Jr.'s words. "a little bit of truth". About discrimination.

"This is not ancient history," Nathaniel Nelson said. He comes from a larger party and believes it will take several years for Greenland to become independent. "Of course, there's going to be a lot of anger."

Nathanielson said Greenlanders, many of whom live in small, remote communities in the country of just 57,000 people, know people affected by colonial policies or have directly experienced them. Denmark.

Copenhagen, which has ruled Greenland since the 18th century - first as a colony and then granting it increasing autonomy in 1979 and 2009 - has apologized for some cases, such as a "social experiment" in the 1950s , in which two dozen Inuit children were brought to Denmark and cut off from their families in an attempt to rebuild their identities.

Another Greenland resident spoke of her family's surprise when they discovered that a relative's inability to conceive was because, as a young woman, an IUD was fitted to her without her understanding or consent.

About 150 Greenlandic women are currently suing over the practice. The practice is believed to have been carried out by Danish doctors in the 1960s to limit Greenland's population and has affected around 4,500 women.

But Nathaniel Nelson said many historic mistakes have gone unacknowledged, and Denmark is unwilling to see itself as a colonizer.

"It kind of messes with their self-image," she said. "But if you don't give people a stage and a platform to be sad and angry and hear acceptance from the people who are causing all this anger, we're not going to move beyond it."

In Nuuk, the Greenland capital, clusters of gloomy concrete apartment blocks mark the edge of the city, some perched on exposed, windswept rocks overlooking the Labrador Sea.

Many Inuit fishing families were relocated to these urban neighborhoods as part of the Danish Modernization Movement, which sought to concentrate people in areas with jobs and factories and provide modern facilities.

As Greenland has gained more autonomy in recent years, some of Kurnok's former residents and their descendants have begun returning to build summer homes, breathing a bit of life into the abandoned village during the warmer months of the year.

But many, like Qujaukitsoq's family, never returned.

"This is the most traumatic experience of their lives, being denied access to their own land and hunting areas, they've lost that," he said.