‘Horrible Murder,’ Says Ex-US Diplomat to Rahul Gandhi on Floyd

Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and former US diplomat Nicholas Burns.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

In conversation with senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday, 12 June, former US diplomat Nicholas Burns called the killing of George Floyd “horrible,” acknowledging that the United States has always had a problem of racism against African-Americans.

“Our greatest American in the last 100 years is Martin Luther King Junior. He fought peaceful and non-violent battles. His spiritual idol was Mahatma Gandhi. King led us to become a better country. We elected an African-American President Barack Obama. And yet, you see race come back now. You see African-Americans mistreated,” said Burns.

“It was horrible, horrible murder of George Floyd, a young African-American man by the police in Minneapolis. There are millions of Americans protesting peacefully as is our right. And yet, the President treats them like terrorists,” he added.

Watch the interview here:

On Trump, China

Burns noted, “Countries sometimes have to go through a discussion, a political debate about who are we? At the core, what kind of nation are we? We are an immigrant nation, a tolerant nation.”

However, talking about tolerance which should be at the core of a country, Rahul said, “It's sad but I don't see the kind of tolerance I used to see in India and the US.”

Burns, replying to this, said, “We will be back, we will strengthen our democracy in the US.”

Burns also stated that US President Donald Trump has always thought to be able to do everything in his own way, “in many ways I think he has an authoritarian personality.”

He added that the military in the US has remained tact and strong in times of the protests, who have reiterated that they will not put their troops onto the streets and will abide by the constitution.

Talking about China, Burns said, “We are not looking for conflict with China, but are waging a battle of ideas with China.”

He stated that India, US can work together, “not to fight China, but to make it observe rule of law.”

Burns, 64, is a university professor, columnist, lecturer and a former American diplomat.

Currently, Burns is the Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is from New York is also the founder and director of the Future of Diplomacy Project and Faculty Chair of the Project on the Middle East, and India and South Asia.