30 Rock actor Keith Powell claims police said he was ‘privileged’ to live in nice neighbourhood

Keith Powell said he is used to police harrassment

Powell said the exchange happened after being told to turn the music down at a party (Rich Polk/Getty Images )

The actor, Keith Powell, has spoken about the “institutionalised” racial bias of US police officers, recalling an incident where an officer told him he was “privileged" to live in a nice neighbourhood.

Powell, who is best known for playing the character James ‘Toofer’ Spurlock on the comedy sitcom 30 Rock, relayed the incident to the Huffington Post.

The actor said he "has experienced a lot of harassment from police” in the past and that this particular exchange allegedly occured after a noise complaint was filed when the actor was throwing a party.

After saying he would turn the music down, the officer reportedly said Powell should feel “privileged” the neighbours let him live in a nice neighbourhood so he shouldn’t do anything to “disrespect” them.

Explaining how he reacted, he said: "Honestly I’m so used to it now. I’m so used to coded language and passive aggressive harassment, I just said ‘ok, thank you’ and let them leave.

“[It was] such a strong indication of institutionalised bias that happens within the police, that I don’t even think they know they’re experiencing it.”

Powell advocates that those affected by police harassment share their experiences with others.

“I’m not going to change the opinion of this one person who is being so condescending to me [so] what we need to do is tell our story to change our culture and bring it back to empathy.”

 

Just got pulled over by the cops wish me luck

A photo posted by Chris Rock (@chrisrock) on Feb 13, 2015 at 7:38am PST

Earlier this year, the comedian Chris Rock posted a selfie every time he got pulled over in his car by police, sparking a debate about police harassment.