The Current State of Black Lives Matter Ithaca
Ithaca has commonly been referred to as ten square miles surrounded by reality, because of the general belief that nothing particularly interesting happens in the small liberal town. Recent events seem to have shaken this belief somewhat, with the COVID-19 response being criticized, new housing developments displacing many local residents and now the violence streets, protests have seen an uptick in recent months.
Massia White-Saunders, 20, has spent his whole life seeking justice, or at least as far back as he can remember. At an early age he learned that he would be disadvantaged in this country just by the matter of his birth. He grew up surrounded by rhetoric of a post-racial society where everyone would be treated equally. “I wanted so badly to believe it,” he admitted, “but eventually I realized it wasn’t true”. Even in the supposedly liberal bastion of Ithaca, home to Cornell and Ithaca College, he’s seen family and friends abused by the police and sheriffs. He witnessed the flawed welfare policies utterly fail to raise people from poverty. And yet it all became that much more real when he was arrested without even a being told what crime he had committed.
“The whole time I was just thinking ‘Seriously? Am I actually getting arrested for this?’” White-Saunders said. On October 14th, White-Saunders got into an altercation with a Trump supporter at a Back the Blue rally. “He just kept saying ‘fuck off,’ and ‘go die’ so I approached him. And he pulls a knife on me. The police were around, protecting the Trump crowd and they come over and, I mean the video shows the rest.”
The video in question shows several police officers watching White-Saunders get handcuffed, forced into a squad car by Vincent Monticello, the senior deputy chief of operations at the Ithaca Police Department (IPD). White-Saunders was not read his Miranda Rights nor was he told what he was being arrested for until he was already in the car. “That Vinny motherfuckers gotta go man,” White-Saunders said when we caught up recently.
White-Saunders’s arrest sparked protests for the next few days, local BLM activists and organizers demanding his release and the resignation of Vincent Monticello and the Chief of Police, Dennis Nayor. Some members of the local DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) and Ithaca Pantheras have demanded that the whole department be shut down and the money distributed directly to tenants as well as service and social workers.
Sunday protests have been held almost every week since the arrest of White-Saunders and the subsequent police violence have turned from national issues to focusing primarily on more local problems. A small crowd gathers outside the police station every weekend to demand the resignation of the IPD’s administration and plead with all the police officers to also resign. The protestors shout chants like “How do you spell racist. V.I.N.N.Y!” and “Fund the community!” One speaker at the November 22nd protest ended their speech about the progress of the local movement with “The cops say they’re afraid to use excessive force because everyone is watching, good! They want to retire because we’re out here every week screaming at them, fucking good!” White-Saunders put it another way, “I really don’t think it’s that hard to be on the right side of history. All they gotta do is quit their job.”
The main entrance to the police department after the November 22nd protest.
Though the number of protestors has dwindled from the hundreds that came out in the summer to a relatively small, multi-racial group of dedicated demonstrators, most see it as simply a matter of course. With the weather growing colder every week, it isn’t surprising that less people are willing to stand outside for hours on a Sunday. “At least some of us need to keep on diligently coming, so they keep on diligently quitting,” said an organizer at the end of November 22nd’s protest. It seems that the protests have been whittled down to the core group of veterans and passionate youngsters, and although they might be causing less of a spectacle the changes comes with organizational advantages. People often bring snacks and water bottles to share with those in need and plans for a community clothing exchange to get hats in coats to people so they can keep coming even when Ithaca is buried in snow. “With enough planning and heart I think we’ll be able to make it through the winter, but only time will tell,” one organizer said. That cautious optimism seemed to be the dominant feeling at most of the protests.
Joy Banford, 21, is one of these dedicated few who was radicalized by the recent events of police brutality, both nationally and locally. Like most white Ithaca natives, Banford has been raised to believe in the messages of social justice, but also that Ithaca had mostly figured that stuff out. “I realized that Ithaca’s mythology didn’t match its reality. That’s why I’m here,” she said, referring to the BLM protest on November 29th. Although Banford participated in several protests after the muder of George Floyd she didn’t start coming to the weekly protest until the arrest of White-Saunders. “Seeing the video was a turning point for me. It really jolted me to do something. Made me feel complicit, because I am!” Banford hopes that other white Ithacans will have the same “revelations” that she had and start to examine their own behavior, privilege and complicity in systems of racial oppression.
View overlooking Cornell University Campus
Besides the façade of liberalism, there is another large barrier in the way of local activists: the Universities. “Cornell students are mostly privileged and comfortable. They don’t care about us,” said a veteran community organizer who wants to remain unnamed for safety reasons. “And the universities themselves don’t want any change if they can help it,” she continued. “They’re corporations so they want a heavy police presence to keep it that way.” When I asked her what she meant by that “The way I see it capitalism doesn’t work without state controlled force and if Cornell stands for one thing it's capitalism.” Similar critiques of the universities, especially Cornell, have been levied for years in regards to their support for gentrification and their perceived hand in Ithaca’s rising cost of living. Another protest had this to say “They can either be a part of the community or they can get out. None of this halfway bullshit.”
Another factor that might be contributing to the local conflict is that a majority of the officers currently employed by the City of Ithaca do not live within the city limits, instead commuting from other places in Tompkins County. The difference between Ithaca and much of the rest of Tompkins County is quite stark. A simple drive out of the city illustrates that perfectly. The BLM murals and banners taped to windows and are gradually replaced by Trump flags and road-side signs the farther you get from downtown. “I mean how are they going to police a community they don’t even live in?” White-Saunders said. Both he and other organizers have made the assertion that police should have to live in the community they are responsible for policing. Local organizations like Ithaca Pantheras, think that either way the police still remain a fundamentally corrupt institution so focusing on fixing that particular problem is largely pointless. Instead advocating for a more fundamental change.
“Defund the police” is a slogan used by many organizers as a banner for policies that shift government spending away from police departments to welfare, social safety nets and social workers. Proponents of this line of thinking, assert that the best way to reduce crime is to reduce poverty. Studies have shown that violent and property crime both fall drastically. Supporters of “defund the police” also point to the low crime rates of countries which spend more on welfare than law enforcement as working examples of this model.
Ithaca Council members have proposed a plan for the 2021 budget that would cut the police budget substantially over the course of the next couple years. This refinancing would reallocate half of the money to the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Department and the other half to Tompkins County-Department of Social Services (DSS) and to fund future programs that could help alleviate hunger and homeless in the county. No set bill or policy proposal has been revealed yet and will likely not be until the end of December but Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick appears to be bending under the pressure. Back in October he had already proposed cutting funding for eight police officer positions, but many expect that this was purely for financial reasons.
Svante Myrick, Mayor of Ithaca, NY, from NBC News 2016
One protestor I interviewed at the most recent Sunday protest expressed serious doubts about the mayor’s commitment to social justice. “I think he’s just waiting. Waiting to see if people stop protesting for the winter. Hoping that enough people stop paying attention so he can cut things other than the police.” Another protestor had a slightly more humorous take on the mayor. “His tendency to uncritically repost everything Joe Biden tweets it a little unnerving.” When I asked why, she said. “I just think it's weird to be in love with one of the Drug War’s architects.”