MIAMI (AP) — The city of Miami on Wednesday suspended a Hispanic police captain who was strongly condemned after he publicly claimed he was black when fighting accusations that he has derided black people.
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The Miami Dade Branch of the NAACP had called for Police Capt. Javier Ortiz’s resignation earlier this week, saying it was deeply concerned by the comments Ortiz made at a city commission meeting last week. On Wednesday, Miami police spokesman Michael Vega said Ortiz had been relieved of duty pending an investigation. Vega did not specify the time frame or the basis of the investigation.
At the Friday meeting, members of Miami’s black police association voiced complaints about discrimination within the department, mentioning the captain by name.
Ortiz was given a chance to step to the podium and astonished officials, including black chairman Keon Hardemon, by saying he wasn’t Hispanic, but black.
“I am a black male. Yes I am. And I am not Hispanic. I was born in this country,” Ortiz said. “You don’t know the makeup of my race or my ethnicity. You don’t know anything about me.”
Ortiz said he had some black ancestry in his family and cited the “one-drop rule” in justifying his identity. The Jim Crow-era classification, once used in some southern U.S. states, holds that someone is black or a person of color even if a single long-ago ancestor was black.
¨Let’s not talk about the degree of blackness,” Hardemon said at the meeting.
“Oh no, you are blacker than me. That’s obvious,” Ortiz responded.
Ortiz has fervently defended police officers who have shot unarmed blacks on social media. He once referred to Tamir Rice as a “thug,” after the 12-year-old boy was shot and killed by a white police officer in 2014 as he played with a pellet gun outside a Cleveland recreation center.
The association on Friday presented documents that showed Ortiz had listed himself as a white Hispanic when he first applied to work in the police department. Later, when he took an exam to seek a promotion, he listed himself as black, The Miami Herald reported.
The assistant director of the city of Miami’s civilian investigative panel, Rodney W. Jacobs Jr., wrote an opinion column for the Herald saying Ortiz should not be trusted to wear a badge from the police department.
“It is incumbent upon me and others to stand up and say that blackness is not for sale,” Jacobs said. “Ortiz’s claim that he is a black man is disrespectful and intellectually irresponsible.”
This white hispanic saying he’s black makes as much sense as a man saying he’s a woman or a woman saying she’s a man. All of these scenarios are totally ridiculous of course. But what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
How in the world does one define these terms? “Hispanic” is really just an American thing that has no clear meaning.
Not the same. Latinos are a mixed of black, European, and South American Indians. Is more likely that he is more black than the crazy lady that was called out for being white and was defending black rights. He is for sure more black than Warren is native American. I’m also sure he is more native American than she is. Given that mostly everyone in Miami Dade county with the exception of most Cubans and most Venezuelans are democrats, they should accept his explanation. Like you said if a man can be a woman arms they done believe in science anymore then they should shut up.
White hispanic ?
I thought Hispanics were considered Brown ?
The easiest way to resolve this matter is to Check his voter registration. If he’s a registered Democrat then he is by all means Brown (or Black if he so chooses to identify) and by no means a racist. Quite the contrary, he is a victim of the white establishment. However if he is found to be a registered Republican or Heaven forbid , a Trump supporter then he is absolutely a white and is a racist until proven a racist.
“The police acted stupidly”
President Barack Obama
Btw, Hispanics are considered people of color. Ralph Northam claimed he was black and he’s as white as white can be. The corrupt media let him off the hook.
But yet when blacks call their fellow blacks the dreaded “N” word, Jake Tapper and the rest of the corrupt DNC controlled media just smile and yawn. It’s only those WHITE Republicans who are the evil racists.
Hey! My mother was Moroccan. does that make me and “African-American”? The last time I checked Morocco was in Africa.
Why does anyone have to specify what race or color they are. Only in America!
If you are trying to be more accepting and less racist culture, then why ask the question, why does it need to be mentioned at all?
Why is there a Miami “Black Police Association”?
Is there a white police association? I’m sure it would be shut down as racist if there was one.
Do they have white association groups in Mexico or Africa, calling for equality between the races and promoting more whites into the police force? It would be a joke, and at the very least they would be chased out of town.