Miami Union for Black Officers Calls B.S. on Planned Beyoncé Boycott

Following yesterday's announcement that a Miami police union leader is calling for cops to boycott Beyoncé's April show at Marlins Park, a different police union – one that represents black officers – has issued a counter-statement, essentially calling him a racist blowhard. The letter issued Friday by the Miami Community Police Benevolent...

By Jessica Lipscomb

February 19, 2016

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Yesterday, Miami's outspoken police union chief took aim at Queen Bey herself, calling on local cops to boycott her April show at Marlins Park over a supposedly "anti-police" message in her latest song. Today, another local police union has hit back.

The Miami Community Police Benevolent Association, which represents black officers, has issued a counterstatement, essentially calling FOP President Javier Ortiz a racist blowhard over the proposed boycott.

The letter sent Friday says the group and its members “[do] not support FOP President Javier Ortiz's antics!!!” (Yes, that's with three exclamation points.)

Yesterday, Ortiz issued a news release calling for officers to boycott the concert due to what he calls an “anti-police message” in Beyoncé's performance of “Formation” at the Super Bowl earlier this month. The black officers union says this is preposterous.

“Ortiz's call for police officers to abdicate their sworn duty to protect and serve even the unpopular by boycotting her upcoming concert is another example of what has proven to be a long pattern of irresponsible behavior on his part,” writes MCPBA President Ella Moore.

Ortiz, president of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police, has a lengthy history of pissing people off, which Moore laid out in her letter Friday. She describes incidents in which Ortiz questioned the patriotism of an assistant police chief who happens to be the department's highest-ranking woman and African-American, publicly supported the officer in Ferguson, Missouri, who killed Michael Brown, and made “irresponsible and harsh comments about the death of Tariq Aziz, inferring that acting like a 'thug' should serve as a green light to kill.” (The MCPBA probably meant to refer to Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old who was shot by police in 2014 in Cleveland, Ohio, not Tariq Aziz, a former adviser to Saddam Hussein.)

“All of these things, and others not mentioned here, have common denominators in that they involve African-Americans that he portrays in a negative light with thinly veiled racist overtones, and they all had the potential to draw the news media to Mr. Ortiz and away from his failure as a leader and as an example of a model public servant,” the letter continues.

Despite Ortiz's call for officers to boycott the show in April, a Miami Police Department spokesman said Friday that “the event will be staffed” regardless.

Here's the full statement by the Miami Community Police Benevolent Association:

PDF — Miami_Community_Police_Benevolent_Association_Letter.pdf

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