STURGEON: HARD TO CONCLUDE TRUMP NOT RACIST
First Minister takes shot at US president over handling of George Floyd death & aftermath
NICOLA Sturgeon believes “it’s hard not to conclude” Donald Trump is racist.
The First Minister made the comment when asked about the US president’s handling of George Floyd’s death.
The dad, 46, died after a white police officer held him down by kneeling on his neck in Minneapolis on May 25, sparking worldwide outrage and mass protests in the US.
Trump has faced fierce criticism over his response, pressing state governors to take a more forceful approach against protesters. In a special interview airing across the Hits Radio Network this morning, Sturgeon was asked if Trump was a racist.
She responded: “I think sometimes it’s hard to not conclude that, and what I always say when I’m asked questions like that is I can’t see inside his head. I’ve been asked that question before about comments Boris Johnson made about Muslims and, ‘Do I think he’s a racist?’
“It’s not an unwillingness to confront the issue, it’s I don’t know what goes on inside Donald Trump’s head - maybe that’s a good thing.
“But I do know that the language you use and how you express yourself matters and if you don’t want to be accused of racism, then don’t use racist language. Don’t sound as if you are equating people who protest against racism with people who take to the streets in order to try to perpetrate racist values and attitudes. We’ve all got to take a responsibility for that.
“I think at moments like this, whether it’s America or any other country, you need a leader - difficult though it is and none of us are perfect in any of these situations - that tries to bring people together and heal divides and address underlying issues and not one that seems to want to further polarise and provoke and force people into on two different sides.
“I don’t know, I say this with with no malice or relish. I don’t know whether Donald Trump is capable of that kind of leadership - but if there’s ever a moment for him to prove that he is, then surely that moment is now.”
But Sturgeon added: “However legitimate I think it is to be critical of Donald Trump’s leadership, we should also be looking at ourselves in the mirror because there is no country nor society, and I include Scotland in this, that is immune from racism or doesn’t still have issues of racial injustice and inequality.
“This is a moment where, yes, we want to put pressure on Donald Trump, but we should also be looking within ourselves and what more we need to do.
I sit as First Minister in a parliament that is still in its 21 years of existence had too few people elected to it from our ethnic minority communities, it’s never had an ethnic minority woman elected to it.
“We have too few people from our minority ethnic community communities employed in the Scottish civil service, for example. We know that many of our BAME communities suffer economic and social inequality and injustice, so we all have work to do here.
“We all have big issues to confront so, yes, let’s focus on America and let’s put pressure on Trump and America, but let’s not forget that we have our own houses to put in order as well.”