Taraji P. Henson, star of the new Fox drama Empire, has been a successful working actress in Hollywood for almost twenty years. However, neither she nor her family is immune from the stigma of racial profiling, both in their work and personal lives. Henson recently took to Twitter to vent her frustrations.

“Racial profiling is VERY REAL!!! It has happened to me but to my son more and he is only 20!!! Something needs to be done. #SERIOUSLY,” tweeted Henson. “I worked my butt off 2 break a cycle. Get my son out of the hood. Thinking his privileged lifestyle would protect him from profiling. #WRONG.”

Henson explained the situation in further detail to Buzzfeed.

“I have a son who was racially profiled, who was pulled over by a police officer. And then, he called five other police officers for backup. My son weighs 100 pounds, soaking wet. He has been to the most prestigious schools in California, OK? He is not a thug. That is Taraji P. Henson’s son — a very privileged child — and he still got treated like a thug,” said Henson.

“I understand the separation between the law and people in the ‘hood, poor people. This is not me on a soapbox with a megaphone, just spewing statistics. I know it is. My message is not run s— down, act the f— up and act crazy, or all white people are crazy. All cops are bad. No, my daddy was a cop; my uncle was a cop. But right is right, and wrong is wrong.”

Empire, set against a glamorous and cut-throat background of dueling hip-hop music executives, premieres tonight at 9 p.m. EST.