Morris Chestnut On Being Racially Profiled, His Biggest Fear For Young Black Men

His biggest fear for young black men:

This is definitely something that is close to me, because I have a 18-year-old son who just started college. I’ve always tried to impress upon him just to be aware of everything… the movie Straight Outta Compton… some of the same issues that [N.W.A.] had back then when they were first starting out is still relevant today obviously. I still feel that, that is an issue and it’s definitely very concerning to me, raising my son and hopefully having a grandson as well.

Advice he gives his son about today’s world:

I always just try to make him aware of who he is and where he is. We live in the suburbs and he has a lot of friends black friends and white friends. I always say, ‘listen, when you are somewhere with your friends who aren’t black’ —  I always make sure he conducts himself in a very well behaved manner. I try to make sure he’s very well behaved and he’s respectful to authorities. I told him, ‘whenever you’re stopped by the police you say, ‘yes sir, no sir,’ make sure that’s first and foremost.’ I feel like that’s the first layer of defense.

Being racially profiled when he was a teenager :

When I grew up I was always racially profiled. I got stopped quite a bit because I lived in a racially diverse neighborhood. I graduated high school at 18-years-old and one of the neighbors down the street, a young well-to-do person, he had an old Porsche. He let my mother buy the Porsche for me. It was very inexpensive. I would drive the Porsche around and because I was a young black male driving a Porsche I was getting pulled over all the time. For nothing. I definitely have those experiences.

Check Morris out in  his new series on FOX titled Rosewood and new movie The Perfect Guy, which hits theaters nationwide September 11.

By -@thankm3soon