Stevie J says the incident that ended with his son and him getting booted from a Delta flight is rooted in race -- and he believes a white traveler would've gotten a pass.
We got the music producer Monday outside 3SIXTY9 in Los Angeles and asked what went down last week during his trip from L.A. to Atlanta.
Stevie says the gate agents told him and his son, Stevie II, to toss their alcoholic beverages before boarding ... but there was no way they were going to waste their booze.
He says they threw back the drinks and scanned their boarding passes and were walking down the jet bridge when all of a sudden dozens of police swarmed and escorted them off for a chat.
Stevie says it's a case of power-hungry cops mixed with racism -- claiming police took things too far, and would never treat white passengers the same way.
As we first told you ... Stevie is threatening legal action, and now he says he doesn't want beef with Delta but hopes they come to the table to hash things out.
Stevie says he's a good guy who was making people laugh in line to board the plane, and he's surprised this happened on Delta -- he proudly told us about his elite status with the airline.
BTW, we also asked what they were sipping on that was so precious, and let's just say ... Stevie should be blaming George Clooney for all this trouble!