John Boyega Gives Rousing Speech At Socially-Distanced Black Lives Matter Protest In Hyde Park
Star Wars actor John Boyega gave an impassioned speech to a socially-distanced Black Lives Matter protest in Hyde Park on Wednesday, namechecking Black people who have died at the hands of police in the UK and US.
Thousands of people gathered in the capital in a demonstration sparked by the brutal police killing of unarmed Black man George Floyd in the US last week. Since then, anti-racism rallies have been held in cities around the world, from Paris to Nairobi.
Boyega said: “Every Black person in here remembered when another person reminded you that you were Black.”
He added: “All those protesters on the other side, protesting against what we want to do, protesting against what we want to try and achieve – [...] I need you to understand how painful this shit is.
“I need you to understand how painful it is to be reminded every day that your race means nothing, and that isn’t the case.”
In his speech, Boyega referenced the deaths of Sandra Bland, a Black woman who died in police custody in the US in 2015, and Trayvon Martin, the Black teenager shot dead by George Zimmerman in Florida eight years ago.
He also referenced the racist UK murder of Stephen Lawrence, as he told demonstrators: “We are a physical representation of our support for George Floyd. We are a physical representation of our support for Sandra Bland.
“We are a physical representation of our support for Trayvon Martin. We are a physical representation of our support for Stephen Lawrence.”
He added: “I’m speaking to you from my heart. Look, I don’t know if I’m going to have a career after this, but fuck that.
“Today is about innocent people who were halfway through their process, we don’t know what George Floyd could have achieved, we don’t know what Sandra Bland could have achieved, but today we’re going to make sure that won’t be an alien thought to our young ones.”
