Update: Last night the Raleigh police union members voted unanimously not to boycott the Beyoncé show.
Raleigh’s police union, Teamsters Local 391, apparently has a lot of free time of its hands.
According to the local’s vice president, Rick Armstrong, the Raleigh union will meet Tuesday evening (after we go to press) to discuss one issue of actual importancepolice salariesand one issue of no legitimate importance whatsoever: whether the police, as self-appointed arbiters of acceptable speech, should refuse to perform security at Beyoncé’s upcoming concert.
To recap: Queen Bey put on an inspired halftime performance at this year’s Super Bowlso inspired, in fact, that we endured a goddamn Coldplay set to watch itthat featured Black Lives Matter messaging and dancers dressed evocatively as Black Panthers. The Black Panthers, you might recall, weren’t always besties with the fuzz.
And that caused some police unionsnotably in Miami, where Beyoncé’s Formation World Tour kicks off at the end of April, and now in Raleighto get their panties in a wad.
“Many officers believe it was disrespectful to the police profession and hope Beyoncé will look to less controversial images to convey her point,” Armstrong told WNCN in a statement this weekend.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the National Black Police Association does not share in Local 391’s outrage. In an email, the association’s national chairman, Malik Aziz, says the group “does not have any plans to support any boycott related to the Super Bowl 50 performance by Beyoncé.”
The NBPA may be taking the high road, but we’re with Mrs. Carter on this one. Cops or no cops, we’ll see you at Carter-Finley Stadium on May 3.
