Police Unions Pushing Back Against Beyonce After Controversial New Video and Her Super Bowl Performance.
HARLOW: Beyonce's new hit song "Formation" you have likely heard it. And also you probably saw her super bowl performance as well. They are both still catching a lot of buzz. The song's music video incorporate imagery of hurricane Katrina, also protests over officer involved shootings. Look.</s>HARLOW: Well, when Beyonce performed that song at the super bowl, her back up dancers were dressed as black panthers. That certainly sparked debate as has the video. And now some police officers are calling for a boycott of her upcoming concerts saying they will not provide security day. Let's talk about it all. Sergeant Danny Hale is with me. He is president of the Nashville fraternal order of police. Also with me, 'Philadelphia Daily News" columnist, author and radio host Solomon Jones. Gentlemen, thank you both for being here. And sergeant, let's begin with you and this question. What is your criticism of Beyonce, that song, the video? There are no antipolice lyrics. We did see in that clip there is graffiti on one wall that says stop shooting and a young man dancing in fronts of a line of police there. There have been other artists, black and white, who views their lyrics, their music to criticized police. Walk me though your thinking in this one.</s>SGT. DANNY HALE, PRESIDENT, NASHVILLE FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE: Well, first of all, thank you for having me.</s>HARLOW: Sure.</s>HALE: Secondly. I never said anything about the video per se. It has pop every now and then. My only complaint is when I watched the halftime show -- actually I had to watch it later because I wasn't this the room at the time. But for them to put that -- the Black Panther movement up on some type of pedestal is the thing that bothered me the most. As far as her video out of New Orleans, you know, she is an artist, that's the cool thing about being in America, she can do what she chooses to do. I just felt that we needed to take a stand because 15 police officers were killed across the United States by - during the Black Panther movement at that time all the way into the '80s. And two of those officers were right here in Nashville, Tennessee. And my whole thing, is I never said the word boycott. I have always said, you know, for our folks, said please, you know, don't volunteer to do this. Ultimately the chief of police is going to have to mandate because we are not going to bring 60,000, 70,000 folks in the national Tennessee in an unsecured environment. I mean, there will be security all the way from the federal to the local level. It just so happens the local police have the crux of the security detail.</s>HARLOW: So I'm clear, you're saying not advocating a boycott but what I am telling my officers is don't volunteer to do it if you were offended?</s>HALE: And that is correct. And that's my only complaint. I felt like we needed to take a stance. And you know, I'll be honest with you. I hate that it came about this way, but I appreciate the conversation. Actually, I have talked to different people and different lifestyles for the past week that I probably wouldn't talk to normally.</s>HARLOW: So, Solomon, I mean, let's weigh in on this. Not only are you a journalist, you were once a police dispatcher. Where do you fall on this?</s>SOLOMON JONES, COLUMNIST, PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS: I think it's ridiculous. I think it's ridiculous to demonize the black panthers. You know, let's look at why they were wearing Black Panther re gala. It's the 50th anniversary of the black panthers. The Black Panthers is actually an organization that started in response to police brutality in the black community 50 years ago. And many of the things they did had nothing to do with that sort of outward resistance to police. What they did was they started a breakfast program. They helped kids with literacy. They helped kids with their school work. You know, you don't hear that in the story of the black panthers. What you do hear is the propaganda around them deciding that they wanted to defend themselves. As far as police volunteering, police do not volunteer to do security here in Philadelphia. They volunteer for overtime. And so that security is paid for. They are paid for their time. They are paid to do their job. For example, here in Philadelphia, police do security in Apple stores and Apple pays for that overtime. So the whole notion that this is not some kind of boycott, I take exception to that because I ink it absolutely is. And I think that they just need to call it that so that we can address it for what it is.</s>HARLOW: I want you both to listen to Hillary Clinton last night addressing the issue of race during CNN's presidential town hall. Here's what she told one audience member about understanding the problem of systemic racism.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Recently I've started wearing my hair natural, and I've noticed a difference in the way some people address and look at me. In the wake of things like Ferguson and black lives matter and the recent black lash against Beyonce for her formation video, there have been a lot of racial tensions recently in our nation. So my question to you is what do you intend to do to help fix the broken racial relations in our nation?</s>HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, Kyla, first of all, thank you for being so candid and brave to stand up and say this about yourself because I think it really helps to shine a spotlight on what are one of the many barriers that still stand in the way of people feeling like they can pursue their own dreams, they can be who they are, they can have the future that they want in our country. And I believe strongly we have to deal with systemic racism. We have serious challenges, and I think --</s>HARLOW: There you have it. I want both of your reactions. Sergeant Hale, you first.</s>HALE: Well, to that issue, my opinion is, you know, I normally don't agree with Mrs. Clinton on anything. But for her to say -- for her to put out there that, yes, you have the right to do whatever you choose in America, absolutely, she's correct. Now, is there -- are there still racial issues? Why, certainly. I live in a day-to-day life in Davidson County, Nashville, Tennessee, and I know that there are problems. To get back to Mr. Jones' issue that we are out here in a boycott situation and we get paid for this and get paid for that, that's absolutely correct. We work sideline jobs, but we don't have to volunteer to work sideline jobs. That's just -- that's our -- you know, for our economic health for our families. And also you look at another thing, when these messages come out, everybody tends to forget that the men and women that are out here protecting society, that the men and women that are out here protecting the rights of citizens, yes, they do make mistakes, but also they have families. Their families are worried about them out there on a daily basis. So when you go into a hostile environment, which don't get me wrong we were trained and paid to do and we are going to do. The cool part about this whole narrative is Miss Knowles is going to come to Nashville on May the 5th. She's going to have a great show and she'll be dealt with in a professional manner.</s>HARLOW: I have one minute left. Solomon, your thoughts.</s>JONES: Yes. You know, it's not a volunteer situation. They volunteer to do overtime. They volunteer to get paid. So I just want to make sure that that is clear. It's not a volunteer situation. The other thing is that they are paid to uphold the law, to protect and serve. And if Beyonce dancing around is a hostile situation, well, that's a problem. Then we need to get some new police officers in to deal with real hostile situations. That's not a hostile situation. She is free as an American to express herself. She's done that. And I think that her 14 million followers on twitter and 61 million followers on Instagram are paying close attention to what happens with this situation.</s>HARLOW: Important discussion to have. Thank you both for having it with us and our viewers. Sergeant, thank you. Solomon, thank you. Back in a moment.</s>HALE: Thank you very much.</s>JONES: You're welcome.