Officer Javier Ortiz, former president of the Fraternal Order of Police in Miami from 2011 to 2017, claimed to be a white Hispanic man when he first applied
A Hispanic police captain who first identified himself as ‘white’ when applying for the Miami-Dade department has claimed he is ‘black’ using a Jim Crow-era racial tactic – a move the local NAACP chapter is calling ‘downright disturbing.’
Officer Javier Ortiz, former president of the Fraternal Order of Police in Miami from 2011 to 2017, first claimed to be a white Hispanic man when he applied for the department.
But Ortiz – who has long documented history of racist incidents – claimed in a 2014 lieutenant and 2017 captain’s application that he was of ‘black of African-American (non-Hispanic)’ descent.
The Miami Community Police Benevolent Association, a union for black police officers, demanded that Ortiz be punished for the move and called for Chief Jorge Colina to step down for a series of grievances against black officers, the Miami New Times reports.
A string of complaints have been issued against Ortiz, who is currently under investigation for having worked more off-duty hours than what is allowed under city policy.
But Ortiz – who has long documented history of racist incidents – claimed in a 2014 lieutenant and 2017 captain’s application that he was ‘black of African-American (non-Hispanic)’
Ortiz has faced countless lawsuits from people claiming he falsely arrested them. He notably falsely arrested NFL players Jonathan Vilma in 2009 and New York Jets’ Robby Anderson in 2017.
The officer has repeatedly defended the police killings of unarmed black men, and even started a ‘We Support Darren Wilson’ Facebook page – referring to the cop who shot and killed Michael Brown in Ferguson in 2014.
Ortiz tried to get cops to boycott Beyoncé’s shows after she used Black Panther imagery in her Super Bowl Halftime Show performance in 2016.
In 2017, Ortiz was suspended with pay for doxing a police critic online.
On Friday, Ortiz addressed the complaint and used the ‘one drop policy’ to try to argue his defense of being black.
It was a policy used in the South during the Jim Crow era that classified a person as black even if a small percentage of their ancestry is African-American.
‘I’m a black male. Yes, I am, and I am not Hispanic. That’s how I feel’ Ortiz said at the City Hall meeting in Miami.
Commissioner Keon Hardemon, the sole black commissioner of the city, asked Ortiz what he put on his application when he first started with the department.
On Friday, Ortiz addressed the complaint and used the ‘one drop policy’ to try to argue his defense of being black
Commissioner Keon Hardemon, the sole black commissioner of the city, asked Ortiz what he put on his application when he first started with the department. Another commissioner asked when he had a ‘coming to god’ moment about his Blackness
‘I think I put white male,’ Ortiz said. ‘I know I put white male but I don’t know if i put Hispanic.’
When asked to clarify when he had a ‘coming to god’ moment of learning he was ‘black,’ Ortiz responds that he recently learned that ‘there are people who are mixed and that are black’ in his family.
Ortiz was using the ‘one drop rule’ – a social principle of racial classification dating back to slavery and reinforced during the Jim Crow era.
He then declares that Hardemon is ‘blacker’ than him before adding that ‘half’ of his family is Jewish.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Miami took to their Instagram on Saturday to condemn Ortiz’s remarks.
‘This is video of an active City of Miami cop at a commission meeting where the topic of discussion is on Racial Equity within the police department,’ they said in the Saturday post.
‘His comments are disturbing. And in the manner of how he used them, downright disturbing to say the least.’
Ortiz took to his Twitter to blast reports of his controversial statements.
‘People love making stereotypes,’ he said. ‘It’s actually refreshing to be who you are, like an American.’
Ortiz took to his Twitter to blast reports of his controversial statements
Ortiz has faced countless lawsuits from people claiming he falsely arrested them. He notably falsely arrested NFL players Jonathan Vilma in 2009 and New York Jets’ Robby Anderson in 2017.