SAUGUS — The intent behind a Black Lives Matter event scheduled to take place in Saugus Center Thursday has been misconstrued by residents and town officials, the event’s youth organizers say.
“From the get-go, this event was meant to just be a response to what we were seeing as Saugus youth (in regards to) George Floyd,” said resident Melanie Mazzarini, who is one of a dozen local students who helped organize the peaceful demonstration. “We’d been seeing on Twitter that a lot of Saugus kids have been saying various racial slurs and spreading a lot of harmful rhetoric, and just generally missing the point of what Black Lives Matter is meant to be.”
In reaction to what they were seeing online, Mazzarini said her longtime friend, Saugus resident and rising UMass Lowell sophomore Seven Greer, approached her about organizing a rally in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The two wanted to hold an event similar to ones taking place in other nearby communities, so with the support of several of their peers, they began to plan a peaceful protest.
“For the past week, we’ve both been working with a bunch of other Saugus kids (to put the event together), but it was just Seven and I who agreed to actually publicize the information,” said Mazzarini, 20. “We knew there was going to be some backlash from the community and we thought we could manage it, but this has been a lot more than either of us thought it was going to be.”
Initially advertised to residents as a Black Lives Matter Unity Rally, Saugus Selectman Anthony Cogliano said he and a friend already had a plan for a ‘unity rally’ in the works when they caught wind that a group of youths had also scheduled a demonstration for the same day in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
In an effort to combine the two events, both of which were created in protest against recent acts of police brutality, Cogliano said he offered to help the young organizers by giving them a platform, which included renting out sound equipment, handing out water bottles, and inviting public speakers to join on the day in question — all with the blessing of town officials and the Saugus Police Department.
However, Cogliano announced on June 8 that he was canceling the “unity rally” aspect of the event because he didn’t want his name associated with “anti-police” sentiments that had been shared online by “another party” involved.
“At first everyone was on the same page, and then one of the groups put out some material that I wasn’t comfortable supporting and would never support. Another group I was working with also wanted nothing to do with that, so when we couldn’t come to an agreement, I said ‘I’m just going to cancel,’” he told the Item Tuesday.
Mazzarini identified herself as the other party Cogliano was referring to, but said the post in question — a graphic that explained the reasoning behind the acronym ACAB, or All Cops Are Bastards — was actually posted a week earlier on her personal Facebook page and had nothing to do with the combined rally.
“Our movement was never about ACAB or about the police specifically. All we ever said was that this is a Black Lives Matter event to honor the victims of police brutality,” Mazzarini said. “From the beginning, I and all of the other Saugus kids involved have been calling for mass police reform. We’re against police brutality and want reform in our country.”
She said that when the organizers heard the Black Lives Matter Unity Rally would be held in collaboration with the Saugus Police, they no longer wanted to be associated with the event.
“Basically Cogliano said to Seven, ‘hey, I’m really interested in what you guys are doing. I would love to give you a podium and organize a march,’ and Seven (agreed). Then Seven was put into a chat with Cogliano and two other people,” Mazzarini said. “Later on in the day, I created the Facebook event, and the group chat Seven was a part of started blowing up.
“Another person in the chat had screenshotted our event page and then went to my personal profile and started screenshotting things, asking Seven who I was, what my involvement was, and saying that my posts needed to be deleted and that they were disgusted by what I was doing.
“Seven told them it was clear this wasn’t something we wanted to be a part of, so we decided to continue with our own thing.”
A news article written by another publication earlier this week then announced the cancellation of Cogliano’s Unity Rally, using Greer’s name and including details that Mazzarini said none of the Black Lives Matter event organizers had agreed to.
Now, Mazzarini said both she and Greer, 19, have been subjected to a barrage of harassment online from those upset by Mazzarini’s post.
“For the past 48 hours, since the event went live, there have been people who I don’t even know who have been calling me a communist and a terrorist and all these other things,” she said. “It’s just crazy.”
Mazzarini also said that although none of the event’s organizers had wanted to take away from the main focus of the protest, she felt compelled to speak out to stop the spread of misinformation.
For his part, Cogliano said he’s also been met with criticism from those who disagree with his support of law enforcement.
“I got involved in this to help the kids out,” he said. “I thought I could direct them in the right way … (but) after I saw the (ACAB) flyer, I lost interest.
“I support police and I support Black Lives Matter. I have no problem with that.”
Ultimately, Mazzerini said she and Greer are disappointed because they feel the ultimate message they were trying to send has now been lost in all the community uproar.
“Now that we actually do have some sort of platform, the message remains the same,” she said. “Black lives matter. We feel that our country systemically and institutionally has been disenfranchising Black people and a major part of that is police brutality.
“We want reform, but above all, we truly just want to convey the message that Black lives matter.”
The protest is still scheduled to take place Thursday, June 11 from 2 to 7 p.m. in Saugus Center. Those in attendance are asked to wear a mask and come dressed in black.