Don Cheadle says he’s been stopped by police ‘more times than I can count’

‘I had good friends that were almost killed by the police for nothing,’ actor says

Actor Don Cheadle has described the moment he realised that the police were “not on Team Don” as he discussed his experiences of racism.

The Avengers star, who portrays superhero War Machine in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appeared on The Tonight Show on Thursday (18 June) where he told host Jimmy Fallon that black children are often “cautioned” by their parents about how best to behave around police.

“The rules of just how to make sure you can come home and be safe and what you had to do unfortunately was something that was put into our minds very early,” Cheadle said, recalling his experience moving to the suburbs from a predominantly black neighbourhood in Kansas City.

“We were the minority and it was very different,” Cheadle said. “That’s when a lot of bullying started when I was in school, definitely predicated on race. That’s when it started to be clear that the cops were not on Team Don and there was a different treatment.”

Explaining that the discrimination continued as he moved to Los Angeles, he explained: “We would get stopped, I mean I got stopped more times than I can count, guns put to my head. I always ‘fit the description’.”

Cheadle continued: “I used to finish their sentences. They’d go, ‘We’re stopping you because...’ and I’d go, ‘I fit the description. I know.’” I always fit the description.

“This is something that was happening over and over again. I had good friends that were almost killed by the police for nothing. This is not something that is new to me once all these videos came out.”

Protests against police brutality have continued to take place across the United States following the killing of George Floyd, a black man who died in May after a white police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes.