This powerful, heartfelt and meaningful performance by Burna Boy and Chris Martin, at The BET HipHop Awards 2020, got to my heart. 'Monsters You Made' all about End Sars but, also, police brutality around the world.
London based with Nigerian and Ghanian origins, I can understand more about these issues than others. In Nigeria we call it Stop & Search but for general terms, End Sars is the slogan for the disbanding of anti-robbery police squad, the police force in Nigeria with a long record of abuse and killings.
Around middle of October 2020, End Sars protests happened outside the Nigerian Embassy in London, in America and Nigeria itself. This amounted to the youth finding their voice and showing how passionate they were about this important issue. Estelle, Anthony Joshua, WizKid and Fuse ODG were some celebrities supporting this issue in London.
For nearly two weeks angry Nigerians had taken to the streets, blocking major roads across cities in Africa's most populous nations. Police brutality has been happening for over 20 years in Nigeria alone. What about other parts of the world?
This performance of Burna Boy's song and his music video, spreads a beautiful message that needs to be heard correctly. I believe we notice more about this issue through music, films and social media than from the news. You'd think it would be the other way around. A great combo from himself and Chris Martin.
H.E.R. came out with 'I Can't Breath'. The music video captured my attention instantly then a few seconds later the song got me grieving and sympmathizing with all that has happened this 2020, which has affected me and all BAME communities around the world.
What a year no one will ever forget. Let's put Covid Pandemic aside and remember that End Sars protest has happened, Black Lives Matter (George Floyd, Breona Taylor etc) is still happening, US elections and Brexit happening now, more knife crime in the UK plus more worldly issues going on to.
This is a year to never forget. Please let me know how your 2020 has gone down? Good? Bad? Peaceful? Fun?