The fact that the Sámi are really not very well known outside the Nordics speaks volumes to how they’re treated here. In each country here they have historically faced everything from forced sterilization, forced relocations, forced labor, attempts to completely erase their languages and cultures etc., and while we love to pretend that they’re now equals with the non-Sámi population, in reality they’re still widely treated as nuisances and especially conservatives tend to hate any attempts at more Sámi self-determination or even mentions of their existence.

Historically we really did try to pretend they didn’t even exist, so it’s no surprise that even though the Sámi are often said to be the only indigenous people in the EU, people quite often don’t know anything about them