Chris Rock's Latest Selfies Are Powerful

As of March 31, Chris Rock has been pulled over by the cops three times in less than seven weeks. And we know this because the comedian has documented each of the incidents on social media. On Tuesday, Chris Rock took a selfie after the police pulled him over, adding it to his collection on his Instagram page. In the photo, Rock can be seen behind the wheel of a car, with a blue light shining in through the back window. He captioned the photo simply: "Stopped by the cops again wish me luck."

While Rock did not add much context to this photo in particular, he certainly has had a lot to say, especially over the last year or so, about police relations with black Americans, as well as about the issue of police brutality. The comedian has addressed these issues often in his comedy routines over the years. He got candid about his material in a series of interviews after the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner made headlines. While the reporting on those stories has slowed down somewhat over the past couple of months, Rock keeps talking about the underlying issues. And the recurring incident of Rock getting pulled over will likely spark more conversation — especially if Rock keeps getting pulled over and keeps taking selfies.

After all, it is hard to ignore someone as famous as Rock being pulled over by the police so often in such a short time span. So each of his selfies have sparked a mixed set of reactions from his followers, some thanking him for sharing the images and others saying that the comedian must have done something wrong to be pulled over in the first place.

Rock did not give a reason for why the cop pulled him over this time, so it cannot be said whether or not he actually was doing something wrong. But in another got-pulled-over selfie dated Feb. 27, he said that he was not even driving when the car he was in was stopped by police.

Hopefully, the exposure on social media will allow more people to open up about their honest thoughts about relations with police in their own communities and possibilities for how they can be improved. After all, hearing a celebrity speak out is always going to start a conversation. And Rock doesn't seem to have a problem at all with being that spark.

In an interview with Vulture last December, the actor talked working serious issues like police relations into his standup routines in the wake of the incidents in Ferguson and in Staten Island. He said,

You keep notes. You look for the recurring. What’s not going away? Boy, this police-brutality thing — it seems to be lingering. What’s going to happen here? You don’t even have the joke, you just say, “Okay, what’s the new angle that makes me not sound like a preacher?” Forget being a comedian, just act like a reporter. What’s the question that hasn’t been asked?

Tensions between police and the black community are still high at this point in time, and it would be easy for some to remain silent about the issues. But as we all know, problems are rarely solved by being silent. Rock's repeated selfie's prove that he gets that.