Thi’sl: Being racially profiled has been normal life for me

“Have you ever been pulled over three times in like 30 minutes?” Thi’sl said. “Have you ever been pulled over three times in one day … a week? … That was normal life for me at one point.”

The St. Louis-based artist clarified that these stops weren’t for speeding.

“It’s for nothing,” he said. “It’s because I look like I fit the description. They just wanted to pull me over and search my car.”

Thi’sl admitted that he’s lost opportunities due to his vocality on uncomfortable conversations like this. He doesn’t care about losing opportunities over telling the truth, but he wishes that people who don’t share his experiences would be open-minded enough to consider another perspective. The Against All Odds emcee believes this humility would help people of different backgrounds to understand each other.

“One of the biggest issues is people don’t understand,” Thi’sl said. “You can’t understand that point of view … I just had a man last year call me the N-word to my face — hopped out his car, called me the N-word, pointed his finger at me.

“That basic experience is like, yo, I can’t make you feel this, but have some empathy for it. I don’t want sympathy. I don’t want, ‘Oh my God, Thi’sl, you’re going to be alright, you poor black man.’ But at least find a place to say, ‘You know what, can’t relate, but I can only imagine.’ I think that would just be big.”

In an interview with Rapzilla at Legacy Conference 2016, Thi’sl discussed the media’s influence on how people see race in America, the prison-for-profit system and his post-music aspirations.

“I love doing music, I want to keep doing music, I want to rap,” Thi’sl said, “but I’m looking forward to the day that I can go somewhere, get on a salary and help create [community] programs.”

David Daniels
David Daniels
David Daniels is a columnist at Rapzilla.com and the managing editor of LegacyDisciple.org. He has been published at Desiring God, The Gospel Coalition, Christianity Today, CCM Magazine, Bleacher Report, The Washington Times and HipHopDX.
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