John Boyega, The Actor-Activist, Isn't Afraid To Use His Voice

This year has been absolutely maddening for John Boyega .

I never knew the plot twist could be so mad. I feel like God just maybe went to the toilet for a bit too long and left this whole thing on shuffle. And I know were just going through random now, he joked, before shifting to a more serious tone. It feels a lot.

He aint lying. This year has been unprecedented on so many levels. Black Lives Matter protests expanded to new global heights, an urgent call to end police brutality in Nigeria rang loudly across the African diaspora and millions of people were afflicted by the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

While the devil has been working hard, its no doubt that the British-Nigerian actor has been aiming to outwork him in more ways than one. Boyega refuses to sit idly by and has been using his platform for good, especially while the communities that look like him are suffering the most. In June, shortly after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer, the 28-year-old star took to the streets with Black Lives Matter protesters in Londons Hyde Park. He told HuffPost that the decision to go protest was a last-minute one, and he for sure didnt plan on making a speech.

We went in the Uber; we went out to protest for three hours. And were waiting for Belly Mujingas family , and then the megaphone was turned to me, Boyega said, referring to the Black British railway employee who died from COVID-19 after being spat on at work. They were like, I would love for you to speak while we wait for it. I said, OK, Ill speak, then it happened. And in that sense, it ignites other things.

Boyega gave a tearful, impassioned demand for the world to see the humanity of Black folks.

Look, I dont know if Im going to have a career after this, but f**k that, he shouted in the middle of a sea of demonstrators. Today is about innocent people who were halfway through that process. We dont know what George Floyd could have achieved. We dont know what Sandra Bland could have achieved, but today were going to make sure that that wont be an alien thought to our young ones.

His impromptu speech went viral . It was a pivotal moment for Boyega; for so many Black celebrities, speaking out does indeed come with a risk.

Im a Black man who cares about his people, to be honest, and I think with a world where you can be in this position and speak up for something, and an initial reaction is not going to be always positive, he told HuffPost. Its going to be sometimes, are you really about it or not? Its just that simple.

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