0:00

This is the BBC. John

0:30

Boyega, who's best known for his roles

0:32

in the Star Wars sequel movies. He

0:35

knew Damolula at school and was one of the

0:37

last people to have talked to him on that

0:39

night that he was killed 24 years ago. John

0:42

later worked with the Damolula Taylor Trust, the

0:44

charity that Richard Taylor set up

0:46

following his son's death, to campaign

0:48

against knife crime. John

0:50

has never previously spoken about his

0:52

friendship with Damolula or his work

0:54

with the Trust. During the interview

0:57

we obviously discussed Richard and his legacy

0:59

but we also talked about the day

1:01

that Damolula died, John's impressions of him

1:03

and of how Damolula's death impacted John's

1:05

life and the approach that he's taken

1:08

to his career. It's a

1:10

very moving conversation and so we've decided to

1:12

upload this longer version of the interview in

1:14

addition to this week's usual edition of Last

1:17

Word. John, when did

1:19

you first meet Richard Taylor? I

1:21

met Richard Taylor years

1:23

ago, probably when I was 10 years

1:25

old and

1:27

he had just obviously the tragedy had

1:29

happened and he had come to my

1:32

school, Oliver Goldsmith Primary School, to kind of kick start

1:34

this journey that he's been on for a very, very

1:36

long time. Basically, he

1:38

was turning trauma and tragedy

1:40

into justice and into

1:42

helping others in the community and through

1:44

that outreach I had met him face

1:47

to face. But prior to that, my

1:49

parents and Richard Taylor and

1:51

his wife were very familiar and that's

1:54

why we were always around Damolula as well because

1:56

we were kind of giving the task to look

1:58

out for him as a father. of Nigeria

2:00

do it just come to the country. So

2:02

there was a community connection as well as

2:04

the extra creative activities that he fronted. You

2:06

met Richard after Damalola's death and you hadn't

2:08

met him? Yeah I've been too young to

2:10

meet him while I was growing up with

2:12

my sisters and my mum and dad, everybody

2:14

else was more familiar. I was the baby

2:16

of the family so I was probably climbing

2:19

trees somewhere. You and Damalola

2:21

have similar backgrounds, the

2:23

children of Nigerian parents.

2:25

What impact did his murder have

2:27

on the migrant community in

2:30

Peckham? I mean it must have been incredibly

2:32

hard for you as a 10 year old

2:34

to understand the loss. I mean it was

2:36

definitely a change for me.

2:39

Obviously as you know myself and my sister

2:41

was one of the last people that was

2:43

with Damalola Taylor on the very day and

2:46

I just think from the hours we left

2:48

him, you know, in Peckham to the hours

2:50

from when I went home and then the police was at

2:52

our door and then there was

2:54

a whole investigation that we were involved in

2:57

was definitely life changing for me, definitely altered

2:59

my perspective. Even though

3:01

I was young, it was like a shock to

3:03

understand how mortality worked to think that

3:05

somebody as young as me could pass away in such

3:07

a horrific way was hard for

3:10

me to understand or comprehend

3:13

and I definitely think Damalola's tragic murder

3:15

has definitely shaped me through the years

3:17

and just affected my perspective on

3:19

certain things and it definitely affected

3:21

the community too. I mean my sister

3:24

in particular Grace who was very very

3:26

close to Damalola went

3:29

through a lot and my dad had to front

3:31

that and try to, you know, protect

3:33

her in that journey. It was definitely a lot

3:35

for everybody to take. And can I just clarify

3:37

something John? Did your parents and

3:40

Richard and Gloria, did they know each

3:42

other before then? Was it a community

3:44

link or had you met Damalola through

3:46

school? Yes, I personally met Damalola through

3:48

school but my mum and dad knew

3:50

Richard and knew his wife as well.

3:52

The community in Peckham

3:54

was almost always connected, especially my dad

3:57

being a minister through church, he

3:59

Would be more. Between the

4:01

community and Richard Taylor and Damilola was what than

4:03

one of those people and everybody kind of had

4:05

to to see no no Cafes Obama you know

4:08

comes to the country for the first time trying

4:10

to familiarize yourself with school. I was

4:12

definitely something that you had to navigate so

4:14

those connections with most definitely may. For my

4:17

parents, Richard and Glorious has had the Damilola

4:19

Taylor Trust campaign against knife crime. Were you

4:21

involved a tool? I mean you probably would

4:24

have been too young but how aware will

4:26

use of what Richard was doing in the

4:28

wake on our was awarded for younger sync

4:30

up with the very Asia the time that

4:33

they were taught in the would try to

4:35

bring awareness to. And

4:37

I went to Demonise to Censor to perform in

4:39

collaboration with the It's A Pack Of because at

4:42

the time I'd already joined the It's A Pack

4:44

of Those were already doing local shows that. Sophia.

4:47

To pick. I'm also teamed up with dummy

4:49

retailer sense or to kind of have sat

4:51

musical. see it's like lessons and you know

4:53

drama lesson is. There was a team there

4:55

that my cousin flat fell off the treadmill

4:57

and have so many memories like Amazon and

4:59

say listen up your from Peckham. Especially

5:02

if you are younger the at that age them

5:04

a little essential is definitely a part of your

5:06

life. Outside school when I was kind of cheap,

5:08

you. Guy. Data keep you busy and

5:10

I most definitely was. Is where I met

5:12

one of my best friends, Labelle it says

5:14

at a place where everybody went arena. And

5:17

what was your impression of retain the

5:19

when he launch that campaign and. His.

5:22

Determination to create something pauses his out

5:24

of such an appalling person's identity. It

5:26

was definitely an inspirational to me because

5:28

I'm a lot of us at the

5:30

time. was looking for a way out

5:32

or mean that. Between. Dummy them

5:35

at a loss. some a guru do the many

5:37

people I knew that. Well I have

5:39

one minute and and that the next because

5:41

of these unfortunate circumstances were affected by the

5:43

very thing that Richard was trying to fight

5:46

against. So my perspective busway as a just

5:48

cause. I. Also was kind of. I

5:50

felt very very bad for him. Could have felt

5:52

like a heavy. Burden. You know

5:54

to go on a new journeyed school? Almost go

5:57

and deceitful. and been campaigning for something

5:59

that socal way your love sign for me is

6:01

a very, very brave thing to do. But also

6:04

I was a beneficiary of that kind of

6:06

simultaneously being a young kid in Peckham who

6:08

needed also space to do activities

6:11

to get into acting to see what

6:13

else was out there plus the

6:16

postcode and that most definitely helped. As

6:18

you say it was you and your

6:20

sister Grace who were the some

6:22

of the last people to have seen possibly the

6:24

last people to have seen Damolola before

6:28

he died. He

6:30

had been at the library I think before heading

6:32

home. Were you with him there? We

6:34

were literally just with him right before he went

6:37

to the library basically and

6:39

we had been walking home and

6:41

it was me Grace and Damolola

6:43

and Damolola basically went one route

6:45

and this is somewhere where he went

6:47

all the time. I mean everybody went Peckham library as

6:49

well. It's actually quite strange that that

6:51

time and me and Grace weren't going because

6:53

we were always, always there. So we kind

6:55

of split paths and once I got home

6:57

a few hours from then the police

7:00

was out of the door and it was just

7:02

all about this investigation and asking questions was just

7:04

very, very strange. What was

7:06

your reaction when you heard? From what

7:08

I remember I just was like I

7:10

don't know how to express it

7:12

but it's just I

7:14

was so young but I just remember thinking

7:16

I didn't know that mortality worked that swiftly.

7:19

That the days kind of just went on and

7:21

then somebody was gone instantly. Somebody that I just

7:23

saw, somebody that I just spoke

7:26

to but it was definitely hard.

7:28

Even harder on Grace who

7:30

had much more of a closer relationship

7:32

with Damolola. It was just

7:34

hard on the family for sure. Was that

7:37

famous CCTV image of Damolola

7:40

getting into a lift and a couple

7:42

of blurred figures. Is that you and

7:44

Grace with him? No, that's actually my

7:46

other friend which is funny. We only

7:49

kind of years later realized it was

7:51

one of my friend who's a musician called

7:54

Tiny Man and His Sister. Those

7:56

were the two figures that you saw getting

7:58

out of the elevator while Damolola was partying.

8:00

passing and you know every

8:02

year we get together and we talk

8:05

on the memories, we talk on the trauma and try

8:07

to get over it because to be involved

8:10

in that way even in passing makes you feel

8:12

like you're inches away from something so tragic

8:14

but also to keep the memory of Daimler

8:16

Taylor alive because that was a

8:18

funny very energetic guy that everybody really

8:21

loved in the community. And

8:23

you have continued to support the trust. I

8:25

know that when you're in

8:27

Star Wars, you nominated the trust to receive

8:29

some money from the film's charitable initiative.

8:32

So how important was that for

8:34

you to use the proof feeds

8:36

of a film like Star Wars

8:38

to benefit the trust? Well,

8:41

yeah, it was very important to me because I've

8:43

been a beneficiary of the work that they've been

8:45

doing. I think it's, you know, when you

8:47

get to some kind of financial stability and

8:49

status, you know, there is that question of

8:51

okay, how are you going to give back?

8:54

And it just so happens that Daimler Taylor Trust

8:56

has definitely impacted my life growing up and gave

8:58

me the space to be able to discover my

9:00

talents which has turned into the movie Star that

9:03

you know today. And so in thinking

9:05

that I was kind of like I knew that it

9:07

worked, I knew that it changed

9:09

lives and I was like if I'm given

9:11

the opportunity as I go through this acting

9:13

career, I'm most definitely going to find ways

9:15

for more lives like myself to be touched

9:17

in that very environment because I think it's

9:19

so important. I understand how restrictive it can

9:21

be to live in one place to be

9:23

dealt, you know, not the

9:25

best of cards in terms of opportunities, finances

9:27

and all of that. And

9:30

I think that that trust, the space in itself

9:32

in Daimler Taylor Center granted that wish to young

9:35

people. And it's one of the

9:37

very things that motivated a star

9:39

out of the guy that you know today.

9:41

I mean, it's just so close to my

9:43

heart. I want to see other people experience

9:45

what I experienced, but in their different way,

9:47

whether they're engineers, whether they want to be

9:49

teachers, doctors, actors, whatever it is, it definitely

9:51

gave a lot of kids opportunity. So I

9:53

definitely wanted to give back as much as

9:55

possible when I got to the stage too,

9:57

you know. That's the impact that the.

10:00

has had on you personally. I know

10:02

also soon after there

10:04

was that television drama made about Damilola,

10:06

you tweeted that Damilola

10:09

had once written a poem that

10:11

inspired you in later life. Can you

10:13

tell us something about that poem? Yeah,

10:16

his dad, I think it was during

10:18

the time of the funeral, his dad had

10:20

read the poem that Damilola had written

10:23

down for himself and that was

10:25

a poem that spoke about what Damilola wanted

10:27

to achieve, how far he wanted his dreams

10:29

to spread, who he wanted to impact and

10:31

touch and I found that quite profound because

10:33

I was just kind of like, you're

10:36

so young, like why are you even thinking about

10:38

that kind of stuff? I'm here wondering when the

10:40

ice cream van is going to pull up and

10:42

why he's an hour late from Monday and you're

10:44

thinking about all this stuff that you're going to

10:46

do and how you're going to use your skill

10:48

set to impact the world and I guess that

10:50

just amongst other things just gave birth to this

10:52

mentality that I had that what is

10:55

truly my dream? I do have the guts to

10:57

identify what my dream is am

11:00

I too young to identify my dream and work

11:02

towards it and after reading that poem I was

11:04

just like yeah, nah, I have no excuse I

11:06

want to be a movie star and

11:08

not just only because I want to be

11:10

but because someone else like Damilola Taylor in

11:12

my environment too, dream to be more and

11:16

I think that's worth it and it definitely has

11:18

impacted me till today. John that is such a

11:20

lovely thing to hear that your friend has

11:23

inspired you so clearly and

11:25

directly albeit posthumously. I

11:27

mean you must have known Damilola only

11:30

a few months but he

11:32

clearly was somebody who was

11:34

very special for you how do you remember him

11:36

now? I just remember Damilola

11:38

with a silver jacket with

11:43

this very extreme silver jacket running

11:46

through the playground of Oliver Goldsmith primary school

11:48

already sweating as if he just had a

11:50

random marathon in his near enough 9 a.m.

11:52

in the morning drinking from the water fountains

11:56

flirting with my bloody sister. And

12:00

just being around us and cracking jokes

12:02

and being flamboyant and charismatic. And

12:05

I just remember him being a big personality. I mean,

12:08

it was such a short time, but everybody knew

12:10

he was this new kid in school and he

12:13

came straight from Nigeria. So there was something about

12:15

that energy that, you know, in the Nigerian community,

12:17

especially in the Yoruba community is like,

12:19

protect this guy, make sure he's good. That's your

12:21

brother. That was kind of the language that was

12:23

used at the time, you know, for the community

12:25

to come bend together and watch out for the

12:27

kid. You know, I just remember

12:30

him being very charismatic, very funny, always around

12:32

my sister and a chill guy

12:34

to really be around, to be fair. It's

12:37

said that Richard carried a huge weight

12:40

of not only the grief, but a sense

12:42

of guilt as well that he wasn't in

12:45

the country when Damolola died. Did

12:48

you ever talk to Richard about that? No, I

12:50

did not. I did not. I

12:53

remember when it when everything first

12:55

spiraled, my dad is kind

12:57

of one of the ministers of the

12:59

community made it a point to protect us.

13:02

So he would always be at the forefront

13:04

of the conversations, especially the ones that were

13:06

going on between the family, between

13:09

my dad and the police. He kind of

13:11

built a barrier for us to deal with

13:13

their experience at the time. So

13:15

I never got into the, especially as the

13:17

older man, I never got into the sort

13:19

of conversations about the guilt, but

13:22

I definitely do understand

13:24

it and do empathize with that

13:26

because I've seen this man graft

13:28

and work very, very hard from

13:30

trying to impact schools to trying

13:32

to invent extracurricular activities that will

13:34

be appropriate for kids with behavioral

13:36

problems. And this is not just

13:39

about helping the victim of the situation. If you look

13:41

at the work he's done, he's also helping those that

13:43

are vulnerable to committing

13:46

such acts too, who are kind of open

13:48

to negative influence. And so I could tell

13:50

through that work that, you know, perhaps,

13:53

you know, the work that he was doing for

13:55

these kids was also tied into That

13:57

guilt that he must have felt of not being

13:59

there. I'm sure it's hard for for any

14:01

parent, even though it's actually not his fault. But

14:04

you could see that that guild is offset by the

14:07

what the he doesn't, the community and. Of

14:09

But so you what? That's the best way

14:11

to to handily offer a situation like that.

14:13

And how will you remember Richard Taylor? I

14:16

would definitely remember it to tailor as. A.

14:19

Pioneer of of of something great in

14:21

a small community forgiven for use in

14:23

his tragic loss to. Influence.

14:26

And push young people in a great direction

14:28

for hims be given the power to know

14:30

the opportunities and was you know the opportunities

14:32

are lucky give you the power to change

14:34

or like to work towards. It's nothing rich,

14:36

it's a in our bodies that embodies the

14:38

a man that was for the people and

14:40

for the community and and turned his tragic

14:43

loss since it. Something. Triumphant!

14:45

Soon as lovely to he you talk

14:47

about them alone and received in. Such.

14:50

A warm ascension that way I didn't eat really ever.

14:52

Spoken. Publicly about your relationships with

14:55

them and I, I, I, I

14:57

haven't And you know, On

15:00

purpose to ever have a bomb. Quite

15:02

driver in in general but we've we've

15:04

this specifically at. Always.

15:06

Kind of seen enough. At his

15:08

death celebrity think sometimes with not wanting

15:10

to get in the front of very

15:12

real life news unless it was really

15:14

nice to be that even when it

15:16

came to. Donations. Or

15:19

help you Now have also kept that quiet because

15:21

I you know dead they're ready front in something

15:23

that is. Is. Is more of a

15:25

message. For. On Richard sailors pass

15:27

in a just was so kind of motivated to

15:29

speak up because now now he's gone. If I

15:31

don't speak out now when it when I am

15:33

I ever going to speak up. For

15:36

must decide definite be somebody that's been very

15:38

vocal of the she was involved in the

15:40

damage. Oh it's a lot Bbc documentary few

15:42

years ago and and and has since been

15:44

involved in the community workers as well as

15:46

myself and my mom and dad to is

15:49

to have been in the community for over

15:51

fifteen years. So. I'm we've been acting

15:53

workers but it it we always have to find

15:55

the appropriate time to share that new so that.

15:57

You. know the message he is at last in this level

16:01

The way that you were describing Damolola a few

16:03

moments ago as a kid of such charisma,

16:06

and also that poem indicates he had such

16:08

optimism and a sense of his

16:10

own future. Do you ever imagine

16:13

what sort of life he might be living

16:15

now if he hadn't been killed that night? Oh,

16:18

Ian, me and my sister used to speak about

16:20

this and I think it was maybe like six,

16:22

seven years after everything

16:25

had happened. My sister was just like

16:27

he would have grown up to be probably

16:29

a handsome young man with

16:31

great opportunity, great morals based

16:33

on his parents and his family and siblings.

16:36

I do also imagine that he would have gone on to

16:38

do some very great things and

16:41

whatever his chosen field would be. He'd

16:43

definitely still be funny. We'd

16:45

be going back and forth sometimes with

16:48

smart cussing

16:50

between us. But

16:52

I think that he would have grown up to be

16:55

in someone great and someone that is an important

16:57

part of our community just as I feel like

16:59

I've been embraced by my community and held to

17:01

such importance too. I think that Damolola would have

17:03

been right there if not more. In

17:05

the creative industry, do you think like you, what

17:08

sort of promise did he

17:10

show in the classroom in terms of a

17:12

potential future career? I

17:16

would have expected some stand-up comedy. I

17:18

would have expected some smart writing. Maybe

17:20

he would have written a really cool

17:22

BBC Three show about his experience as

17:25

a Nigerian coming into London. When

17:27

the shows growing up that gave you

17:29

a different perspective in inner city London, I feel

17:31

like he would have been a creator of that.

17:33

For a guy to be writing poems

17:35

at such a young age, I think he would have gone on

17:37

to be a cool writer and

17:40

somebody that would have definitely been involved somehow

17:42

in the creative space. You never know. Maybe

17:45

I would have also started the projects that he wanted

17:47

to push out. He

17:49

was a huge impact. When you think about the

17:51

number of kids, especially that I was shoulder

17:54

to shoulder to, that came from Peckham,

17:56

that came from that environment to achieve

17:58

something. the effect of

18:00

this guy, unfortunately, obviously some of it being

18:03

through tragedy but the effect of his personality

18:05

kind of going through something like that has

18:07

been a really positive one to

18:09

everybody that grew up in the community to

18:11

aim further and to not see any limits

18:13

and that's exactly what I did. John

18:16

Baiga, thank you so much indeed for talking to us.

18:18

Thanks so much for your opportunity. BBC

18:23

Sounds, music, radio, podcast.