The Dalai Lama blames George Floyd’s death on racism during virtual talk on compassion
The Dalai Lama has deplored the death of George Floyd in Minnesota and blamed discrimination and racism for it.
The exiled Tibetan leader gave a virtual teaching about compassion to his followers during a webcast Friday morning from his home in India’s Dharamsala.
“We see in the news channels, the media about discrimination on the basis of color or religion these days, and then there is killing due to that, and then there are some who even take it as a pride to be able to kill somebody.”
The Tibetan spiritual leader added, “Just yesterday I saw on the television news, somewhere in Minnesota, or somewhere in America, one black person had actually fallen under a car, and the police team … and he actually pushed his knee on the neck of that black person.”
“So because of this discrimination, racism on the basis of race, such things are done,” the Dalai Lama said.
Outrage has grown internationally after a video emerged showing a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck during the arrest. Floyd was unarmed and handcuffed, and cried that he couldn’t breathe before he died later.
The Dalai Lama’s talk was part of a two-day empowerment teaching on Avalokiteshvara, which is a practice focused on compassion, and continues Saturday. The spiritual leader gives these teachings quite often, which would normally happen in front of his followers and visitors, but that stopped after the worldwide coronavirus outbreak.
