Looking at the End SARS social movement against police brutality in Nigeria and how youth in the Canadian diaspora and beyond have been mobilizing in conjunction with youth in Nigeria to disband the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

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Speaker Bio:

Hey name is Dami, i’m a 25 year old Nigerian-Canadian, during the pandemic, my home country Nigeria was also going through a crisis of police brutality. Police brutality has always been a big issue for Nigerian citizens as the SARS officials that the government puts in place are to PREVENT harm from happening to citizens. However, the complete opposite happens as SARS officials actually use their power to torment, steal from, and sadly sometime even kill Nigerian citizens.

In October of 2020 Nigerian citizens however took to the streets to protest the violence against SARS officers. While this happened I was watching my friends that I was just having fun with, just 8 months ago parade and risk their lives on the streets of Lagos to protest police brutality. It felt so surreal and too close to home to ignore so I found this sudden use of motivation. I remembered while I was in Nigeria I used a service that allowed me to transfer CAD TO Naira - So I had connected with them to them to tell them I wanted to use their service to send donations to protesters. Then I posted on my Instagram asking people to donate AND asked my friends who were protesting and protesters in Nigeria if they needed support I had connected with queer and young protesters that were putting their lives on the line protesting in Nigeria, and I had also connected with a non profit organization called Safehquse, where I was primarily fundraising for them - that was providing temporary housing and financial support to primarily queer youth who were protesting as queer youth are the most targeted by SARS. Overall after that, it kinda took a life of its own and through Safehquse I was able to find a way for youth here in Canada to donate to a cause that was happening all the way across the world, and truly it was my honour, and I know a lot of Nigerian youth here appreciated the effort to opportunity to donate.

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This event is part of Leading in Colour's Community Action Project made possible by Speaking Rights, a program from Equitas.