Instagram, whether its because we waste hours scrolling through it mindlessly or because its glamorous, healthy, famous users make us feel bad about our own boring lives, can sometimes get a poor rap. It’s easy to forget that the app can be used for good, as well as evil, and that it can be a powerful tool for broadcasting too — at least, when Chance the Rapper used it to livestream his recent police stop.
The musician was stopped in his native Chicago this Sunday while driving home with his daughter Kensli and her mother Kirsten Corley, and casually livestreamed the entire thing on his profile. In a clip, since posted to YouTube, Chance is seen munching on fries as he tells the camera (and his nearly 7 million followers): “[I] just want y’all to be here in case it gets out of hand.”
“Should be cool though,” he adds. “I have great faith in humanity and the men and women who put on the badge. But, you know, you can’t be too careful. I have faith in the men and women who put on the uniform, but policing as a system is disproportionately racist and oppressive.”
Chance goes on to say he had just got back from church when he was stopped, with his “baby in the car, no burner, no drugs in the car.” The video ends with the rapper zooming in on a police car parked behind them and shaking his head.
In a statement, Illinois State Police told the Chicago Sun-Times that Chance and Kirsten were stopped for a “moving violation”, and that she was issued a warning.