Questlove, a popular DJ and drummer for the hip-hop collective, recently revealed that he has fallen victim to stop-and-frisk procedures close to 30 times.
In an interview with Democracy Now, the musician – who is also the music manager of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon – talked about his first encounter with the police as a teenager in Philadelphia in 1987.
“A cop stopped us, and he was holding a gun on us. There is nothing like the first time that a gun is held on you,” he said, as he recalled being stopped by police while driving home from a music store.
“We’re 16, mind you, like 16, 17 years old, and I just remember the protocol, I remember my father telling me, like, ‘If you’re ever in this position, you’re to slowly keep your hands up.’…How I knew that was the protocol at that young age, I mean, it’s probably a sad commentary, but it was also a matter of survival,” he said.
Questlove admitted that he still gets stopped to this day, for “unknown reasons” – and recites his most humiliating experience which happened in 2010 after he traveled to California for an appearance before President Obama, Think Progress reports.
He said he pulled over his vehicle to call his manager and was soon surrounded by five police cars. He was then forced to exit the car, enter the back of the police cruiser and wait as officers searched his vehicle.
“It’s the most humiliated, emasculating feeling I’ve ever had,” he said of all stop-and-frisks in general. “I only feel low when that happens.”
The DJ also shared his personal thoughts on the value of a black man in the wake of George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the death of Trayvon Martin.
He said: “You’re guilty no matter what, and you just now have to figure out a way to make everyone feel safe and everyone feel comfortable, even if it’s at the expense of your own soul.”
Watch the full interview here.