Don Cheadle has been stopped by the police "more times than I can count".
The 55-year-old actor seemed to "always fit the description" of a black man who was reported to the police after moving to the suburbs after never experiencing the authorities whilst living in a predominantly black neighbourhood.
Appearing on ‘The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon’ on Thursday (18.06.20), he said: "That’s when a lot of bullying started when I was in school and definitely predicated on race. That’s when it started to be evident that the cops were not on team Don.
"I got stopped more times than I can count. I always fit the description. I used to finish their sentences. They’d go, ‘We’re stopping you because…’ and I’d go, ‘I fit the description. I know.’ "
However, Don’s parents still had to caution their child of how to react to the law enforcement to ensure their baby would get home safe.
He explained: "I think a lot of black people have this story of how their parents had to caution them about how to comport themselves when they would come into contact with law enforcement, and the rules of how to just make sure you come home and be safe, and what you had to do."
The ‘Avengers: Endgame’ star added that there have been a number of times a cop had put a gun to his head, and how he has several African-American friends who have nearly died at the hands of policemen.
He continued: "This is something that was happening over and over again. I had good friends that were almost killed by the police for nothing."
It comes after the viral video of the killing of George Floyd – an unarmed black man who was killed by a Minneapolis police officer last month – which is not a new thing for Don, who has heard plenty of stories of black men and women being mistreated by authorities which haven’t been caught on camera.
He said: "This is not something that is new to me once all these videos came out."