John Boyega joined a protest in London on Wednesday, speaking passionately to a crowd gathered at Hyde Park, Metro UK reported.

Protests against racism and police brutality have spread across the world since demonstrations following the killing of George Floyd began in Minneapolis last week. 


The Star Wars actor has been outspoken online about Floyd's death and racism, and he decided to get active now that the protests have gone global. 

"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. I’m speaking to you from my heart. Look, I don’t know if I’m going to have a career after this, but f**k that," he told the crowd.

Using a megaphone, Boyega spoke about how universal anti-Black racism is, regardless of country, and said the world will never get to find out who Floyd, Bland and others lost to police violence could have been. 

"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 in 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," the 28-year-old said.

According to Metro UK, more than 1,000 people joined the protest and made efforts to follow social distancing guidelines while chanting "Black lives matter."

Boyega also took time during his speech to speak directly to Black people about the need to respect each other, particularly Black women. 

"Black men we need to take care of our Black women. They are our hearts, they are our future, we cannot demonize 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 and that’s what we need to create. Black men, it starts with you, it’s done man, we can’t be trash no more. We have to be better," he said.

His powerful speech had a noticeable effect on the crowd, and he covered dozens of topics before coming back to racism and the need to respect Black lives. 

Last week, Boyega went back and forth with people on Twitter who criticized him for tweeting, "I really f**king hate racists" after discussing Floyd's killing with his followers, as Blavity previously reported

During his speech on Wednesday, Boyega spoke about Stephen Lawrence, a Black British teen who was killed by racists in 1993, as well as Mark Duggan, who was shot by police in 2011, according to CNN.  

"I need you to understand how painful this s**t 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 anymore, that was never the case," Boyega said.

"Black lives have always mattered. We have always been important. We have always meant something. We have always succeeded regardless. And now is the time. I ain’t waiting," he added.