How Much BLM Has Fought and How Little White Supremacy Has Given
But what about the promises of reform and progress nationwide? Has the institution of policing shown any evidence of the belief that Black Lives Matter? It doesn’t appear so.
The Black Lives Matter movement emerged in 2012 in response to George Zimmerman being acquitted of murdering Trayvon Martin. But the movement expanded nationwide two years later after police murdered Michael Brown in Ferguson, MI, and Eric Garner in NY, and again in 2020 with the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, MN.
High-profile murders of Black people by police gained national attention and lead to mass mobilization across grassroots and other coalitions.
Yet long after protests disperse and the news cycle moves on, after white supporters of the movement turn their attention to other causes, the dangers faced by Black people in the US remain.
Recently, Saratogians spoke at a series of city council meetings addressing the resolution on reckoning with the city’s historic and current racism. Some white people were confused, questioning the need for such a resolution. Others felt the need to chastise and tone police Saratoga BLM. But many spoke in support of this resolution while also stating it is not enough.
After a protest shut down a May 2, 2023 city council meeting, some white people questioned why, on the same evening the resolution passed, Saratoga BLM and supporters were still calling for more.
But what if the same people who ask why Saratoga BLM- or any BIPOC person- is using direct action tactics instead asked a different question?
What if the real question is: Why do Black people and People of Color need to give so much to receive so few concessions from white supremacy?
Why does it take legal charges against two BLM activists in Saratoga for the community to have a longer speaking period and for Jim Montagnino to be called out for his racism?
Why did it take police in riot gear tackling BIPOC people in the street for the state to take interest in investigating the corruption in the SSPD?
Why does it take centuries of enduring abuse, displacement, criminalization, and violence for someone to make the mere suggestion of an apology?
After years of uprisings, requiring more emotional and physical labor from BIPOC people, demanding safety, an end to state violence, and honest reckoning with the history of institutionalized racism, the state responded by making Juneteenth a holiday. Which white corporations will profit from, and white workers can enjoy while BIPOC essential workers are compelled to work through.
After being physically assaulted and arrested by police nationwide and having the movement infiltrated by the FBI, BLM has been granted many performative concessions.
A street name here, a mural there.
But has the state truly heard the message?
Statistics suggest that when it comes to the core issues that BLM formed in response to- police killing of Black people- nothing has changed.
For Saratoga BLM, this year marks the 10-year anniversary of the murder of Darryl Mount by SSPD. No independent investigation was ever conducted. Evidence of perjury and cover-ups related to this case have still gone unaddressed. Today, May 25, 2023 marks 3 years since the murder of George Floyd. 3 years since millions of people took to the streets to demand more for our communities, and yet here we are, 3 years later still demanding the same things.
Saratoga BLM was inspired in part by the mission of bringing justice for Mount, Floyd and their surviving families.
But although Saratoga BLM has made some impressive achievements- including being the catalyst for Saratoga’s own racial reckoning in public discourse and assisting with the campaigns to elect the most diverse city council in the city’s history, their most pressing objectives have been thwarted by enduring white supremacy in the region.
The call for a task force to address reconciliation for the damage caused by racism in the city is meaningless while sitting council members still weaponize police against Black activists while overlooking the same behavior from white people.
No independent investigation into Darryl Mount’s death has been conducted.
Racist rhetoric is alive and well in Saratoga Springs, even from a sitting council member, the commissioner of public safety.
What’s more, the tactics of white supremacy endure. Plans for a homeless shelter were canceled abruptly this winter when white private school parents made verbal threats against board members of the nonprofit involved in creating the shelter.
Threats from white members of the community have been leveraged against the Mayor recently.
The tactics of vigilantism have come as a strong backlash to Black organizers and those who challenge the status quo of capitalism and white supremacy in Saratoga Springs.
But what about the promises of reform and progress nationwide? Has the institution of policing shown any evidence of the belief that Black Lives Matter?
It doesn’t appear so.
There have been 48 days in 2023 so far in which police have killed Black people. Black people have been killed by police in 42 states.
In 2014, police killed 278 Black people, and 306 in 2015. The number of Black people in the US killed by police remained steady between 256-286 every year since. Even in 2020, when crime dropped dramatically because of the pandemic, police still managed to assassinate 256 Black people nationwide.
This is staggering, especially when you consider that Black people are only 13.6 percent of the US population.
And it’s only getting worse. As of March of 2023, police had already killed 8 more Black people than in the same time frame in 2022.
Thus, the intensity. The urgency. The need to capture public attention and continue chanting- or yelling- Black Lives Matter.
Because in the time it took police in the United States to kill 8 more Black people than the year before, the commissioner of public safety had already used the SSPD to target two Black activists for speaking at a meeting.
*Stats from https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/
One of the only things to change is the increase in vigilante violence against BIPOC people by burgeoning white supremacists who find more sympathy than correction in the corrections system.
But change has come to Saratoga Springs. Saratoga BLM has ushered in a more progressive era for local politics. They have also organized a number of community programs including Free Fridges with food for the community. They have organized and hosted book giveaways and Trunk or Treat events for families as well as educational programs at local schools and colleges.
They continue to speak out against criminalization of unhoused people and demand justice for George Floyd and all victims of state violence.
To support Saratoga BLM’s ongoing efforts, contribute here:
Fundraising for legal fees of activists being charged here
Go to bit.ly/thepeoplesmeeting for our action toolkit to drop their charges
Attend the “Say Their Names” Event on 5/26/23 at 5:30 PM in Congress Park to honor the lives lost to state-sanctioned violence and institutional racism.
Attend Court to support Lexis Figuereo and Chandler Hickenbottom 6/5/2023 at 8:30 am in Saratoga Springs
Attend City Council Meeting 6/6/2023 at 7 pm
Write letters and OpEds. Shy? We can help. Contact us at: theactivistsadvocate@substack.com
In justice and solidarity,
The Activists Advocates