Questlove: Trayvon Martin case taught me ‘you ain’t sh*t’

theGRIO REPORT - Questlove, drummer for the hip-hop collective The Roots and the 'Late Night with Jimmy Fallon' show, has vented his frustration with the George Zimmerman verdict in a Facebook post which has since gone viral...

TheGrio Staff

Jul 18, 2013

Questlove, drummer for the hip-hop collective The Roots and the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon show, has vented his frustration with the George Zimmerman verdict in a Facebook post which has since gone viral.

“The overall message this whole Trayvon [Martin] case has taught me: You ain’t sh*t,” Questlove wrote.

The musician has written about his own run-ins with overzealous white police officers in his recent memoir Mo’ Metta Blues: The World According to Questlove.

Zimmerman was acquitted of second degree murder, and lesser charges, in the death of Martin. His defense team argued that he shot and killed the 17-year-old unarmed black teen in self defense.

“I’m in scenarios in which primitive exotic looking me (6’2, 300 lbs, uncivilized Afro for starters) finds himself in places that people that look like me aren’t normally found,” wrote Questlove.

“If I cried at every insensitive act that goes on in the name of safety, I’d have to be committed to a psych ward. I’ve just taught myself throughout the years to just accept it and maybe even see it as funny,” he added.

He concluded his post by saying: “I guess I’m struggling to get at least one percent of this feeling back, from all this protective numbness I’ve built around me, to keep me from feeling. Because, at the end of the day, I’m still human.”