Star Wars' John Boyega Just Gave a Powerful Speech at a Black Lives Matter Protest in London
Star Wars actor John Boyega delivered a moving speech at a peaceful demonstration in London's Hyde Park today, expressing his solidarity with the Black Lives Matter protestors currently fighting against police brutality in the United States following the unlawful death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer.
"We are a physical representation of our support for George Floyd," said Boyega. "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. 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," he continued. "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."
"Every black person here remembered when another person reminded you that you were black. So none of you out there, all those protesters on the other side, protesting against what we want to do, protesting against what we want to try and achieve, burn you, this is so vital. 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 any more. That was never the case."
The 28-year-old actor, whose social media accounts have been targeted by racist trolls in the last week due to his vocal support of Black Lives Matter and condemnation of racist behavior, went on to emphatically defend black women in particular.
"Black men, we need to take care of our black women," he said. "They are our hearts, they are our future, we cannot demonise our own, we are the pillars of the family... Imagine this: a nation that is set up with individual families that are thriving, that are healthy, that communicate, that raise their children in love, have a better rate of becoming better human beings... that's what we need to create."
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