As the world continues to condemn racial discrimination and excessive police force, Rwandan artist Manzi Yvan Pitchou, formerly known as MYP of the KGB group, has come forward with his own disturbing experience with U.S. police.
Now going by the name Navytune, the artist released a video showing himself being approached and recorded by three police officers while he was simply playing his guitar in public. He claims the officers handled him in a manner he describes as unlawful.
On Instagram, Navytune told his followers:
“I hadn’t committed any crime. I was just sitting and playing music. But they stopped me and disrespected me. I think it’s because I stood out as a Black man in that neighborhood.”
The 35-year-old artist, who has lived in the U.S. for 12 years, has studied Psychology, Sociology, and Music, and later pursued Business studies.
He explained that during the entire incident, filming was the only tool he had to document the reality of what he was going through.
He added:
“I went to their supervisor to explain what happened, but no action was taken. That showed me that justice can be expensive—especially when you have a different skin color where you live.”
This comes at a time when multiple stories continue to emerge about foreigners, especially Black individuals, facing hardships in America, particularly in their interactions with law enforcement.
Navytune was a founding member of the popular Rwandan group KGB, known in the 2000s for hits like Arasharamye. The group included Skizzy and Henry, who passed away in 2012.
In 2015, Navytune married an American woman, Shannon Lair, and has since been a permanent U.S. resident.
