'Before You Call The Cops' On Him, Watch His Powerful Monologue On Racism

"I hate that anyone at all might possibly be afraid of me."

Tyler Merritt just wants “you to get to know me better before you call the cops.”

The Nashville, Tennessee, actor shines a light on the recent spate of incidents in which people have called the police on black people without valid reason in a moving monologue that NowThis shared online Tuesday.

Merritt, in the clip, reveals tidbits about his life to show that he’s a regular guy. He hates spiders and bananas, is a vegetarian, can recite every word from the musical “Oklahoma!” and NWA’s “Straight Outta Compton” album, spends most Sunday mornings teaching kids, has “never been to jail,” “never owned a gun,” and hates “that anyone at all might possibly be afraid of me.”

“I’m a proud man,” Merritt says. “I’m a proud black man.”

But he then asks: “Does any of this really matter?”

“No. I just wanted you to get to know me better before you call the cops.”

The video struck a chord with people on Twitter, who called it “excellent” and “powerful.”

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