Volume 97 Number 24 | JANUARY 29-FEBRUARY 4, 2020 | MiamiTimesOnline.com | Ninety-Three Cents Welcome home, Rashad The KC Chiefs defensive back was a Carol City Chief MARK STALLWORTH Miami Times Contributor Every football player's dream is not only to win a Super Bowl but to win one in their hometown. If you thought that the Super Bowl LIV wouldn’t feature a player from South Flor- ida especially a player from Miami-Dade Shuckin’ and Jivin’ owner County, just think again. Miami Carol City Senior High School Ernisha Randolph will cater alumnus Rashad Fenton will be partici- pating in Super Bowl LIV this year. He is for the league’s guests. a rookie defensive back for the Kanas City PENNY DICKERSON [email protected] tadium-sized bragging rights are now in order for Ernisha Randolph, who landed Sa contract as a Black vendor for the official NFL tailgate for Super Bowl LIV. Randolph combined heritage with hard work to establish Sweet Butter Hospitality Group and Shuckin’ and Jivin’ – Miami’s palate purveyor of Low Country cuisine rooted in Gullah Geechee traditions and the ancestral conventions of New Orle- ans. Miami Times photos/Gregory Reed The seasoned cook, who creates her Kansas City Chief Rashad Fenton own spices with fresh herbs, conjured conch salad and presented it in petite Chiefs. After being the 28th pick in the cylinders; small bites of cajun chick- sixth round – 201st overall in the 2019 NFL en were gathered and lathered with jivin’ Draft – Fenton is still living the dream. In his rookie season, Fenton has reached sauce; she topped it off with her staple south- a milestone that many players never do ern fried fish, and of course, there was nini bread. during their time in the NFL. “I’m still in a That’s what she delivered to win the contract. dream right now and I haven’t woken up,” “I don’t really know how to not over do it,” said Ran- Fenton said during Super Bowl opening dolph, the 36-year-old visionary who prepared food for night activities at Marlins Stadium Monday. a pitch day in the tradition of the venture capital tele- Ernisha Randolph, Fenton remembers the moment he was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs. vision program, “Shark Tank.” owner of Shuckin’ SEE SOUL 6A “It was a blessing. I ran out the house, and Jivin’ will screamed and let the whole neighborhood tantalize tastebuds. know I got drafted when I received that phone call,” Fenton said. “I really thought I wasn’t going to get drafted as it was near the end of the draft and I was getting ready to work out to begin my career as an un- drafted player. But that phone call changed everything.” Fenton’s journey to the National Football League started at the North Dade Optimist. He played Optimist football for the North Dade Bulldogs and several teams in the South Florida Youth Football League, which is responsible for producing today’s NFL superstar talent such as Dalvin Cook and Teddy Bridgewater. Fenton participated Miami Times photos/Penny Dickerson SEE FENTON 4A Photo illustration by Mitzi Williams Civil and criminal investigation pending against Ortiz dents at the medical campus.” Cases have been sent to the Miami-Dade Rodney W. Jacobs Jr., assistant director, of the Civilian Inves- State Attorney's Office and the FDLE tigative Panel, said that Ortiz PENNY DICKERSON dispositions. His file includes draws an extraordinary amount [email protected] seven lodged by Nestor Garcia of complaints. on June 26, 2019. Two of Gar- “He by far exceeds any officer The suspension with pay of cia’s complaints – one of which in terms of complaints in the Hispanic Capt. Javier Ortiz on is considered a potential case city of Miami Police,” Jacobs Wednesday, Jan. 22 was based of “double dipping” – are ones said. upon pending civil and criminal that were dispatched to county Following an internal affairs investigations. and state law enforcement. investigation, recommendations The Civilian Investigative Garcia alleges Ortiz “manipu- were made to send the com- Panel sent two cases for further lated the system and abused his plaints to the state attorney and review to the Miami-Dade State power by going over the allotted FDLE. Ortiz has been suspend- Attorney’s Office and the Flori- maximum off-duty and regular ed with pay pending further in- da Department of Law Enforce- work hours.” vestigation ment on Dec. 17, 2019. In another complaint, Garcia Rodney Jacobs The state attorney’s of- Ortiz was hired by the police alleges Ortiz, “while working an related to a police shooting. By fice, “neither confirm nor department March 22, 2004. His off-duty job at the University of abandoning his post, he neglect- deny the existence of an open personnel file has 51 complaints, Miami Medical Campus, Ortiz ed his duties and responsibility criminal investigation.” see story on some of which have pending responded to a radio dispatch of providing safety to the stu- SEE CASES 7A 9B BUSINESS ................................................. 5B FAITH & FAMILY ...................................... 13D Today Kobe Bean Bryant CLASSIFIED ............................................. 7B FAITH CALENDAR ................................... 15D 80° 08/23/1978 - 01/26/2020 IN GOOD TASTE ......................................... 9C HEALTH & WELLNESS ............................. 14D LIFESTYLE HAPPENINGS ....................... 11C OBITUARIES ............................................. 16D 8 90158 00100 0 INSIDE Editorials Cartoons Opinions Letters VIEWPOINT BLACKS MUST CONTROL THEIR OWN DESTINY | JANUARY 29-FEBRUARY 4, 2020 | MiamiTimesOnline.com MEMBER: National Newspaper Periodicals Postage Credo Of The Black Press Publisher Association paid at Miami, Florida Miami law enforcement (ISSN 0739-0319) The Black Press believes that America MEMBER: The Newspaper POSTMASTER: Published Weekly at 900 NW 54th Street, can best lead the world from racial and Association of America Send address changes to Miami, Florida 33127-1818 national antagonism when it accords Subscription Rates: One Year THE MIAMI TIMES, needs a fix from within Post Office Box 270200 to every person, regardless of race, $65.00 – Two Year $120.00 P.O. Box 270200 Buena Vista Station, Miami, Florida 33127 creed or color, his or her human and Foreign $75.00 Buena Vista Station, Miami, FL Phone 305-694-6210 legal rights. Hating no person, fearing 7 percent sales tax for Florida residents 33127-0200 • 305-694-6210 Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina touts many accolades H.E. SIGISMUND REEVES Founder, 1923-1968 no person, the Black Press strives to during his short tenure as head of law enforcement for the GARTH C. REEVES SR. Publisher 1919-2019 help every person in the firm belief that city. He took the lead in 2018 of a department that drew fed- GARTH C. REEVES JR. Editor, 1972-1982 all persons are hurt as long as anyone RACHEL J. REEVES Publisher 1992-2019 is held back. eral oversight in 2013 after police shot seven Black men in CAROLYN GUNISS Executive Editor eight months. But at the start of 2019, Colina said due to the help of res- idents, homicides were at a 50-year low in Miami in 2018. The agitated MLK I came to love Crime was down in 2019. But there were the mistaken arrests of Anthony Clinch, 19, CHARLES M. BLOW, columnist, The New York Times and Yaairnes Bryant, 21, on first-degree murder charges in When I was young I idol- This speech was delivered May 2018. Their faces were plastered across news reports as ized the Reverend Dr. Martin after the passage of the Civ- arrested for the crimes before they were released – with an Luther King Jr. the way most il Rights Act of 1964 and the apology from Colina. A cursory Google search of Yaairnes boys look up to athletes or Voting Rights Act of 1965. As Bryant’s name shows stories of his arrest and charges, cou- pop stars. King put it in the 1967 inter- pled with a mention here and there of his subsequent release. He was a Black man who view, passage of those acts His image is surrounded by images of the crime scene of the most people had come to ven- came at “bargained rates.” murder scene he allegedly committed. erate, one existing, it seemed, It seems that King was Mistakes happen. above the trivialities of tense even open to the idea of rep- So, it is not far-fetched that if Black police officers complain day-to-day racial exchanges, arations, if not explicitly by that they suffer at the hands of other rogue officers or unbear- one existing on a higher mor- name, at least in spirit. able policies, that there could be some truth. al plane. As King put it about his Poor Sgt. Stanley Jean-Poix, president of the Miami Communi- But, as I grew older and People’s Campaign, “Now, ty Police Benevolent Association, a union whose members learned and read more about when we come to Washington are mostly Black, have complained about a double-standard King, it became clearer to me in this campaign we’re com- that the King I had been fed ing to get our check.” for Black officers. Such arguments should have been handled was a caricature of the man King was assassinated a internally. But after getting no relief from Colina, Jean-Poix he was. I had been taught a to see that “some of the old for being “more concerned month before the campaign aired the department’s dirty laundry in public. He made a reduced King, smooth and optimism was a little superfi- about tranquility and the sta- was supposed to head to presentation to the Miami City Commissioners Jan. 17, doc- polished, a one-dimensional cial, and now it must be tem- tus quo than about justice, Washington.