Comedian Chris Rock made light of racial disparities in police treatment of whites and blacks with a tongue-in-cheek guide to not being beaten by the police, according to CNN
He encapsulated the frustration and grief caused by a New York grand jury’s decision not to indict a white police officer in the death of a black man with a simple tweet: “This one was on film.”
Now, he’s stirring things up again with a series of tweets documenting three traffic stops in seven weeks.
[quote_box_center]”Stopped by the cops again wish me luck,” he posted early Tuesday, along with a photo showing him behind the wheel of a car with what looks like blue police lights in the background.[/quote_box_center]
Many African-Americans have long bemoaned the phenomenon of being pulled over for no apparent reason, calling it “driving while black.” Blacks are about 30% more likely to be pulled over by police than whites, according to figures reported by the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2013.
And in amid increased conversation over race and policing after the high-profile deaths last year of Eric Garner in New York and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, the issue is even more sensitive.
Rock hasn’t commented on the tweets and didn’t say how the police stop turned out.
He got lots of support on Twitter.
“My heart legit dropped, no kidding,” one Twitter fan posted.
