New Zealand minister says yes - Trump is racist amid George Floyd protests

Two of Jacinda Ardern’s senior coalition partners have accused Donald Trump of racism after more than a week of global protests following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers.

James Shaw and Marama Davidson, co-leaders of the Green party, were asked their opinion of the US president following inflammatory comments on Twitter during protests over the death in police custody of George Floyd.

Asked by press gallery reporters if they thought Trump was racist, both co-leaders answered: “I do”.

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Their united position on Trump was confirmed to the Guardian by a senior Greens press secretary, though neither wished to add any further comment.

Prime minister Ardern was also been asked for her opinion on Trump, but repeatedly declined to answer, saying it was not her place to make character assessments of foreign leaders.

Leader of the opposition National party Todd Muller also refused to give his opinion.

The Green party is the most progressive political party in New Zealand and in 2017 formed a coalition agreement with Labour, led by Jacinda Ardern, and New Zealand First, led by Winston Peters, to govern. Shaw is minster for climate change in the New Zealand government.

New Zealand and the US are traditionally strong allies and both members of the Five Eyes security alliance, but they increasingly diverge strongly on political values, with Ardern arguing for amped-up multilateralism; while Trump pursues isolationist policies .

Ardern has been criticised for failing to confront Trump on his climate change views when they met on the sidelines of UN meetings in New York, and the pair’s official meetings have been brief, suggesting a cooler relationship than past US and New Zealand leaders. Early in Ardern’s term as PM, she revealed that Trump had mistaken her for Justin Trudeau’s wife at the East Asia summit.

On Monday thousands of Kiwis took to the streets to show their solidarity for the Black Lives Matter movement.

Green co-leader Davidson, a Māori woman, wrote a strongly-worded letter to police commissioner Andrew Coster, urging him to halt trials of armed officers and recognise that racism and discrimination remained a scourge in New Zealand too.

“Here in Aoteroa, sound research exists to show our police and justice mechanisms disproportionately target Māori and other communities of colour. Many are justifiably worried about discrimination that results in increased police brutality and death among those communities.” Davidson wrote.

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“The death of George Floyd is not an isolated event. These deaths occur within a justice system with a deeply embedded culture of systemic racism and violence.

“Unfortunately, the disease of state-based discrimination is not constrained to American borders.”

Davidson formerly worked as a youth worker in South Auckland and as an advisor at the Human Rights Commission for 10 years.