May 24, 2023 by Elijah N’dolo (‘24)
On February 26, 2012, Trayvon Benjamin Martin, an African American teenager, was fatally shot in an Orlando suburb by George Zimmerman, a Hispanic American civilian. Despite public outrage, 17 months later, Zimmerman was acquitted of all charges. But following the immense media attention the incident garnered, a social movement arose: Black Lives Matter (BLM).
Black Lives Matter united activists from all walks of life to expose acts of racism and police brutality and demanded reform in governments and police departments. The movement expanded exponentially after the killing of George Floyd in May of 2020, and hundreds of thousands of activists took to the streets across the nation. In Saratoga Springs, a group of five young activists created Saratoga Black Lives Matter, an organization that advocated for racial equality and organized protests in and around Saratoga Springs. This organization would come to clash on numerous occasions with the Saratoga Springs City Council and the Saratoga Springs Police Department, the most recent of which resulting in criminal charges being filed against BLM leaders Alexis Figuereo and Chandler Hickenbottom.
One of the first incidents related to the Black Lives Matter movement that sparked protest in Saratoga Springs was the death of a mixed-race young man named Darryl Mount in 2014. The Saratoga Springs Police Department claims that officers chased Darry Mount across downtown Saratoga Springs in September of 2013 and later found him unconscious in an alley off Broadway. Nine months later, Mount died from complications of his injuries. But Mount’s Family and social activists believed that the police had something to do with Mount’s death and demanded that the District Attorney and the Attorney General investigate the case. Although a separate investigation would occur, the results of the investigation would state that no crime was committed that day by police officers.
Two years after Mount’s death, following the election of former president Donald Trump, Alexus Brown, then a Saratoga Springs High school junior, organized an after-school event called Voices For Unity through the school’s amnesty club. “It was definitely an interesting dynamic being a student and wanting to have these conversations,” Brown said, “but not necessarily having the outlet or the space to do that, so we created that space in the high school.” Brown explained that as an African American growing up in Saratoga Springs, a city with a small percentage of African Americans, she felt it was isolating to live in a community where few people understood the struggles African Americans faced. “The 2016 election was an accelerant for issues that were already happening,” Brown said,” and people became a lot more open about their racism.” In February 2018, flyers inviting members to join the Loyal White Knights, a faction of the KKK, were placed on the dashboard of cars across Saratoga Springs. But this did not discourage or intimidate Brown, and in June of 2020, along with four other activists, she created Saratoga Black Lives Matter.
During a press conference on June 28th, 2021, former Assistant Police Chief John Catone, in response to an increased division between Saratoga Springs citizens and the Saratoga Springs Police Department that Catone believed was driven by Saratoga Black Lives Matter, made the statement, “ I will, on my final eight months on the job, pull out every single connection my family has made over the last 130 years and I will stop your narrative.” In response to this statement, Saratoga Black Lives Matter organized a protest entitled Take Back the Narrative, a protest that would turn violent and result in police charging into the crowd to make several arrests.
“We had older white women towards the back of the crowd,” Brown explained, “they went around them and just tackled black people. The majority of that crowd was white, but the majority of those arrested were black.” Additionally, Brown and her partner were followed home, and her partner’s car was searched for weapons in an act that Brown deemed racial profiling. Brown described that the City Council continued to deny this as an act of racism, and even though there were talks of paid remediation, nothing came from them. The Attorney General would continue on to investigate the arrests made for civil rights violations.
On February 7th, 2023, Saratoga Springs held a City Council meeting at City Hall. Among the members of the public that voiced their concerns was Chandler Hickenbottom, another founder of Saratoga Black Lives Matter. During public comment, as an act of civil disobedience, Hickenbottom refused to cede the microphone to the following concerned Saratoga Springs citizen, and the meeting was forced to adjourn. Brown said emotions were very high that day after the death of Tyre Nichols in Memphis and that Saratoga BLM felt frustrated that their voices were not being heard. Two weeks later, Hickenbottom was notified that Jim Montagnino, the Commissioner of Public Safety, one of the City Council members present at that meeting, had filed a complaint against her, accusing her of disorderly conduct. While the City Council and Mayor Ron Kim condemned the charges as racist and sexist, Montagnino made the statement, “Chandler Hickenbottom wasn’t charged because she’s Black and she wasn’t charged because she’s a woman. She was charged because she disrupted a council meeting to the point where it actually had to be shut down. That’s unprecedented and it’s unacceptable.”
In an April 4th City Council Meeting, an angry Alexis Figuereo, brother of Hickenbottom and executive director of Saratoga BLM, grabbed the microphone from another member of the public who had commented on the actions of his sister and approached the table where the City Council was seated. Although this meeting was not forced to adjourn, Figuereo was also charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing governmental administration by Jim Montagnino. In a third City Council Meeting on May 2nd, dozens of Saratoga Black Lives Matter activists would effectively shut down another hearing while protesting against the charges pressed against Hickenbottom and Figuereo.
Amongst other things, Saratoga BLM has been fighting for the implementation of the 50 Point Plan, a proposed reform made by the Saratoga Springs Police Reform Task Force, a stop to mass arrests of immigrant workers in Saratoga Springs by the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, and a general end to police violence towards African Americans. “Montagnino has voted against most of our proposed resolutions,” Brown described, “and at the end of the day, it is his responsibility to put these points forward, and he is not doing it.” This comes amid major tensions between Montagnino and Mayor Ron Kim, with a video being released on SSPD’s Facebook showing expletives being exchanged between the two in City Hall.
Brown suggestion to those reading is to stay informed and get engaged. “For me, a big part of my activism,” Brown explained, “is trying to reach young people. Whether you might be interested in the climate or women’s rights or racial justice, all of our issues and our lives are interconnected. As young people, it’s our job to be fully invested in the present, so we can build the future we want to live in.”