Chris Rock’s selfies after being pulled over by police spark national debate in US

CHRIS Rock has sparked a massive debate in the US after uploading a series of selfies that many think show everything that is wrong with the country.

What’s wrong with this picture?

AMERICAN funnyman Chris Rock has sparked a debate about racial profiling after snapping selfies every time he’s stopped by police.

The comedian’s latest selfie posted on March 31 shows Rock in his car with the caption, “Stopped by the cops again. Wish me luck”.

It follows two other photographs uploaded earlier this year including one where he says he wasn’t even driving at the time.

The pictures have gained national attention across the country where Justice Department statistics show black drivers are 31 per cent more likely to be pulled over than white drivers — a phenomenon that has already led to the rise of the #drivingwhileblack hashtag online.

It was fuelled even further when actor Isaiah Washington, who played Dr Preston Burke in Grey’s Anatomy, said he was pulled over so many times when driving a Mercedes he sold it in favour of a Prius to avoid police attention.

I sold my $90,000.00 Mercedes G500 and bought 3 Prius's, because I got tired of being pulled over by Police. #Adapt @chrisrock

— Isaiah Washington (@IWashington) April 1, 2015

While Rock didn’t respond to Washington’s tweet, many others decried his use of the hashtag #adapt, saying people shouldn’t have to change their habits in order to avoid racial profiling by police.

Prius won't save you from #DWB @IWashington i know. trust.

— Questlove Gomez (@questlove) April 1, 2015

Washington has since spoken of his own experience of being stopped by police on CNN saying: “I know a lot of people take issue with the hashtag adapt thinking that I was implying that white supremacy and racial profiling would stop if you were in a different car.”

“Since I got out of my G500 and been driving a Prius for the last four years with windows that are tinted ... I have not been pulled over one time.”

He also described race relations in the US as a “war” saying: “There is a sentiment in the air which is highly toxic, highly negative and what I was doing by that tweet is exactly what I wanted it to do. Incite a conversation that if we’re looking at this term ‘black’ and we’re looking at this term ‘driving while black,’ maybe we need to look at the term black itself and have a different type of conversation.”

Isaiah Washington has also weighed in with comments many say are controversial.

Rock’s recent selfies are not the first time the multi-talented actor has spoken about race. He joked about driving while black with Jerry Seinfeld on his show “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee and said young black actors don’t often get the help from Hollywood that he was lucky to receive from Eddie Murphy.

“I’d do the same for a young white guy, but here’s the difference: Someone’s going to help the white guy. Multiple people will. The people whom I’ve tried to help, I’m not sure anybody was going to help them,” he wrote in The Hollywood Reporter in 2014.

“It’s a white industry. Just as the NBA is a black industry. I’m not even saying it’s a bad thing. It just is. And the black people they do hire tend to be the same person. That person tends to be female and that person tends to be Ivy League,” he said.

Racial tensions are high in the US after a white police officer was let off after shooting unarmed teenager Michael Brown in Missouri leading to nationwide protests. Picture: Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP.

The debate comes following heightened tensions in the last few months following a grand jury acquittal of white police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri after he fatally shot unarmed black teenager Michael Brown.

The decision to acquit Mr Wilson led to widespread protests and rioting with thousands joining marches across major cities to claim that ‘black lives matter’ and protest police violence.

That case was followed by another acquittal of white police officer Daniel Pantaleo after the death of 43-year-old father of six Eric Garner who died after being placed in a chokehold by New York police officers.

The decision led comedian Jon Stewart to unleash on the verdict, saying he was baffled and angry with the decision.

“I don’t know, I honestly don’t know what to say. If comedy is tragedy plus time, I need more f**ing time. But I would really settle for less f**ing tragedy to be honest with you.”

Michael Brown’s death prompted weeks of protests that ‘black lives matter’ with many holding their hands up against heavily armed police.

Originally published as Chris Rock’s selfies after being pulled over by police spark national debate in US