John Boyega has recently appeared in a BBC anthology miniseries about racial injustice in the UK called Small Axe. It’s directed and written by black British people
This is mostly a PSA post to let people know about it, so that whoever’s interested can go watch it to show support for John/ Steve McQueen and tell the BBC that people are interested in black stories in the UK. I’m also asking that people watch it as legally as they so that the watch count goes up, and they get the message
It’s free on BBCiPlayer for people in the UK (and I guess if you have a vpn that works lol) and MAYBE Amazon prime but if it’s available anywhere else, please add on to this post
I'm on this week's Fansplaining (a two-parter), a follow up to their 2016 episode of race and fandom (which I also participated in). I'm Holly Quinn, ftr.
If you prefer reading to listening, there is a full transcript on the linked page.
When all know how the companies loved to use Black Lives Matter to help their PR, or at least they did when they could still monetize it.
One of the companies that did that had been Lucasfilm who did that by supporting John Boyega when he had gone out to protest back in June of 2020.
The funny thing is, and by funny I mean bull shit, Lucasfilm has never shown support for John Boyega through the years as he’s faced years of racism from both the Star Wars Community and from folks within their own company.
In fact, even during the push to boycott John’s casting, Lucasfilm had never said a word in support of John Boyega.
They showed zero support for the STAR of their own new trilogy, yet were sure to put his face eveywhere in the marketing
And this got me thinking how much they had used John Boyega’s Finn in the marketing of the film “The Force Awakens” to advertise a Black Jedi, and how even the film had set it up, and yet John Boyega had this to stay in regards to how The Last Jedi treated him and his character.
And through the years, many folks would defend Lucasfilm under the excuse that the story of Rey and Kylo was actually the main story, that Finn was just a red herring or that his story would take away from hers.
Well to all those people, get your clown shoes because Daisy Ridley just said “LOL NOP!” to all that.
So no, they never had Rey’s story nailed down. They never had Kylo’s story either. Think about that, in a story where Rey could have been anything and everything always had to be about Kylo, Finn was sidelined for no reason.
Oh, wait. I know the reason and I talked about it in this video in detail:
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So I’m just wondering, if Lucasfilm stood with the Black community, why did they sideline Finn? If Lucasfilm actually stood with John Boyega, why did they not only show zero support for him until they could use it for PR? Lucasfilm never stood with the Black Community, it never stood with John Boyega, and they deserve all the backlash they’re getting for this fake woke trilogy.
Retweet this so everyone knows what they did, so they know how they lied, and if you stand with John Boyega
If you are a member of the Organization of Transformative Works community (which includes Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, and the TCW academic journal) as an author and/or reader please read this open letter about the organization's failure to address racism on its platforms, and, if you agree, sign.
‘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.’ Boyega, 28, 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 f*** 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.’
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‘I need you to understand how painful this sh*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 anymore.’
We’re spreading these photos of John Boyega, and good we should. But in the midst of all that don’t ignore the haunted pain in his eyes. Or the tears running down his cheeks. There’s a brokenness there that’s been felt for generations. One sharp like shattered glass. It’s an aching that’s fueled outcry for years, we can’t ignore that