THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEFORE AND NOW

There is no doubt there is a huge difference on the situation with the sami people now and how it was let´s say in the 70ties or 40ies.  This is a really common question I get asked all the time:

HOW HAVE THINGS CHANGED FOR SAMI PEOPLE?

Sami culture is not prohibited anymore like it used to be. 
For a long time nothing Sami was tolerated. To simplyfy what happened: the government wanted us to become good Norwegian citizens, we where not allowed to be Sami. We had to change our names, burn the gákti (sami clothing) and drums, and stop joiking and talking sami. Chlidren in shcools would get punished if they where to talk sami or use sami clothes.

Colonisation happened, and it´s still going on, it has for at least 100 years - BUT....

Now we have opportunities - we had no voice before. 
Because there has been shown interest in reconciliation between the Norwegian government (I know best of the situation in Norway, but there are sami people in Sweden, Finland and Russia as well) and Sami´s the latest years this is an excellent chance for us to show the world who we are. On our terms. We don´t have to let anyone from outside the Sami culture define who we are, but we can choose for ourselves to show what our values are, our lifestyle and world view, our culture and what we have to offer to the world.
We are allowed to learn how to be good Sami people. We have the opportunity to define ourselves - let the world know who we are from our own perspective.

What would you say has changed for the Sami people? Do you have any thoughs about it?