Stormzy addressed the crowd at a London march protesting the killing of Chris Kaba today (September 10), urging them to “keep going”.
Kaba, 24, was shot dead by a Metropolitan Police officer on Monday (September 5) after the car he was in was flagged by an automatic number plate as potentially being linked to a firearms offence.
A police chase followed, and armed police surrounded the vehicle in a narrow street. Kaba was killed by a single gunshot wound, although a search later revealed he was not armed. He later died in hospital.
Police are treating Kaba’s death as a homicide and the officer who fired the shot that killed him is no longer on operational duties, the BBC reports.
Protestors marched through central London earlier today, demanding justice for Kaba and his family. Stormzy was among the crowd and gave a short speech outside Scotland Yard.
#Stormzy showed up for #ChrisKaba his family, and community like speakers Diane Abbott & Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Chris’s brother and cousin campaigners.
‘No mother should bury their child murdered by police #ChrisKaba#Justice4ChrisKaba #EnoughIsEnough #BLM #SayHisName #RIP pic.twitter.com/wmB2XB58gk— NabeelaAkh (@NabeelaAkh) September 10, 2022
“I was very hesitant to come up here because I know, a lot of the time, even with my name and how the British media stays, they try and turn it into this other thing and use my name to try and make it about me, but it’s nothing about me,” he said.
“It’s about us, it’s about the family, it’s about everyone grieving. Chris has a mother, he has a family, he has brothers, he has friends, people who knew him their whole life, for them, this is unbearable.”
He added that the “only reason” he was taking the microphone was because he understood and felt he should use the voice and platform his music career has given him.
Stormzy continued: “Someone said before I got up here something that I want to reiterate, everyone here today, I just encourage everyone to have stamina. I know it’s a very difficult thing to say because no one should have the stamina to go on a journey like this to get justice or to get answers, but when these people do these things, they get away with it.”
He urged protestors to keep putting pressure on the authorities, saying: “What happens is, we do this once, and we get tired. We tweet, and we get tired. We do it for a week, we do it for two weeks, we do it for a month, and they know we get tired.
“I just encourage everyone, at whatever capacity, do whatever you can do to help. But also have the stamina to keep going because they have killed someone, that’s murder. Just keep going because the family needs you.”
Stormzy has often made headlines for speaking out on institutionalised racism and police brutality, and online racial slurs. In a 2016 interview, he said it was “important to me to express my opinion” because he’s Black.
“If I see a situation and I ignore it, I’m very fake. Because if I’ve seen a situation and I’ve felt outrage, and I don’t voice it, then I’m a part of the problem. So I have to stand up. I’m not going to wait until something happens to me or my loved ones before I speak out about it, cos that’s not cool.”