John Boyega: Courage to speak against racism
Stars in “Red, White and Blue” as a police officer trying to change ideologies from within.
2020 will be characterized by a list of endless pivotal moments. Among the moments’ leaders: John Boyega.
Boyega stars in Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe” anthology “Red, White and Blue” (streaming Friday) as Leroy Logan, a forensic scientist who joins the police force hoping to change racist ideologies after seeing his father, Kenneth (Steve Toussaint), brutally assaulted by two officers.
The film takes place in 1980s London, but 40 years later, the racial themes in “Red, White and Blue” still echo, and tie into Boyega’s authentically unapologetic moments, from pouring his heart into a riveting speech in protest of Black people continuing to die at the hands of police officers to calling out one of the biggest movie studios to cast actors of color aside.
While filming “Red, White and Blue,” which follows Logan as he battles upsetting instances of racism at every turn in his journey as a police officer, the “Star Wars” actor gave his impassioned Black Lives Matter speech heard around the world.
“Every Black person here remembers the time when another person reminded you that you were Black,” an emotional Boyega said in June at a London protest. “I need you to understand how painful this (expletive) 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.”
Boyega, 28, got his reminder early, when he was “too young to really even
understand what was going on.” He was walking with his sisters when a group of white boys started throwing glass bottles and water and hurling racial slurs at them.
“As a kid that changes you. There’s a fear of that as well, but it changes you,” Boyega tells USA TODAY. “You start to learn about your position in the world in terms of your race, and that – as you know, as well – it’s like a good few years’ journey until you finally realize ‘I’m Black’ in the Western world.”
Boyega’s frankness didn’t start nor end with his June Black Lives Matter speech. A few days before his viral, impromptu speech, the actor tweeted: “I really (expletive) hate racists,” a tweet that has been liked 2 million times, and despite some Twitter backlash for his words, he has stood by them.
A couple of months later, Boyega called out Disney’s “Star Wars” for pushing characters of color to the side while giving white actors (Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley) “all the nuance.”
Boyega, who plays ex-First Order Stormtrooper Finn (FN-2187) and sidekick to Ridley’s Rey, can’t pinpoint the exact reason why he’s gotten so vocal, but attributes it to a mixture of things that are “deep rooted.”
“Maybe it’s the time, maybe it’s the way I was brought up, I just don’t know. I just feel like let’s not all pretend as if we’re not humans out here, like we all don’t take a (expletive). Let’s just be real; there’s no need for this weird kind of fake relation to each other. If anyone was in my position, there would be something negative and positive to say,” Boyega says. “I’m comfortable with supporting what I support out loud and sometimes, it’s just a good thing to do in the moment; it seems right, there seems a sense of responsibility.”
Laughing, he adds: “And honestly because I’m just like that, innit?” Boyega said what he said. And he’s not afraid of saying it louder for those in the back either.
In “Red, White and Blue,” Logan and his only friend on the police force, Asif Kamali (Assad Zaman), are eating lunch while a table away, a group of white officers are laughing at their colleague’s racist remarks. Logan and Kamali are upset but decide not to say anything, and, honestly, who can blame them? Throughout “Red, White and Blue,” Logan and Kamali have to navigate racial slurs scrawled across work lockers and even near-death experiences when calls for backup are ignored, but Boyega is not one to let remarks like that slide.
“There are certain things that I can ignore and I can do the whole emotional stability, maturity, move on, but in this current climate, in this 2020, somebody was talking that kind of (expletive), I’d be quite piqued,” Boyega says. “I can’t imagine having to maneuver that. ... I wouldn’t be as controlled.”
Police brutality has been a constant for Black people for decades and is at the forefront in 2020, with countries around the world protesting against police violence, but Boyega believes police reform is possible.
“I do know that people are very frustrated; it’s at the forefront of all of our conversations. The people that are on ground that are handling this type of brutality, it’s at the top of their lungs for there to be reform,” Boyega says, adding that although he’s not sure how long it’ll take or what the process is, it’s definitely possible. “People need this change because they want to feel like they are served and protected rather than hunted and killed and discriminated.”
Despite the emotional and physical battle wounds that come hand in hand with being Black, Boyega wouldn’t trade it for anything because “come on, man, look at this, it’s lit” he says, dusting off his shoulders and basking in the pride of being Black. “I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Boyega adds. “It’s a nice existence, there’s a positivity, a strength that comes from it. But at the same time, yes, you have those thoughts about then having to deal with the flip side, the obstacles, the limitations sometimes.”
He adds: “It’s good for us to celebrate and enjoy the pride in your history and your identity, but we want to do it in a world that is comfortable with that and can see us as just human beings and value our lives basically.”