Captain Javier Ortiz applied to the Miami Police Department as a white, Hispanic male. In 2014 and 2017, he quietly changed his race to Black. Ortiz publicly doubled down on that shift and sadly elaborated on his perceived newfound identity in a racial equity meeting.
The meeting with city commissioners largely took place because The Miami Community Police Benevolent Association, a union that represents Black police officers, accused the department of enabling discrimination, according to The Washington Post.
The first time Ortiz identified as a Black man, he did so in time for a promotion application.
“I’m a Black male. Yes, I am,” he sleazily confirmed to himself on Friday, perhaps after feeling the reverb of his own words.
According to the Miami New Times, Ortiz’s history in the force includes lawsuits that allege instances of racial profiling, police brutality, a restraining order granted to a woman who he allegedly falsely accused and then doxxed, an attempt to boycott Beyoncé after her Superbowl performance in 2016 and more.
“I am non-Hispanic. I was born in this country,” he told the commissioners, clearly unaware that one can, in fact, be black and Hispanic. Also, there are plenty of Latinos (or Hispanics) who were born in the United States, so not sure what he’s going on about. He would later share that half of his family is Jewish – a detail only he considered relevant.
The inconceivable exchange unsurprisingly upset many, including the Miami-Dade division of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). “His comments are disturbing. And in the manner of how he used them, downright disturbing to say the least,” the group wrote on Instagram.
In a matter of five allotted minutes, Ortiz managed to dig himself deeper in a grave of his own making.
When a Black commissioner interjected, Ortiz said, “You’re blacker than me, that’s obvious. And if you knew anything about the one-drop rule… you would know that if you have one drop of Black in you, you are considered Black.”
Tag yourself. I’m the Black woman who is recording the entire thing on her phone and walks over mid-speech to get a close-up shot.
Stanley Jean-Poix, president of the Miami Community Police Benevolent Association recognized the ridiculous in Ortiz prior to the meeting. “Captain Ortiz has continued to prove that his actions can be a liability and can destroy the decades of community policing efforts,” he said in November.
Mayor Francis Suarez and Chief Jorge Colina are considering possible next steps, including the possibility of letting Ortiz go.