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BLM Utah founder quits and moves out of the state after receiving death threats for calling the American flag a 'symbol of hate'

The founder of Black Lives Matter Utah and President of the Utah Black History Museum has announced she is stepping down and has moved out of state after receiving an influx of death threats a month after calling the American Flag ‘a symbol of hate.’

Lex Scott posted her farewell message on the official Black Lives Matter Utah Chapter Facebook page explaining that while she had been training successor Rae Duckworth to take over.

Her move came after a backlash over a July 4 post on the group's page where she wrote: 'When we Black Americans see this flag we know the person flying it is not safe to be around. When we see this flag we know the person flying it is a racist.'

 The civil rights activist explained that while death threats were an unfortunate common occurrence in her position, they escalated in the last month after her controversial comments on the flag. 

She said the increase of death threats had worn her down to the extent that she was 'so prepared to die that I welcomed death’. 

Lex Scott, founder of BLM Utah, announced on the Black Lives Matter Utah Chapter Facebook page that she has stepped down as president of BLM Utah and the Utah Black History Museum and has moved out of the state due to death threats

Lex Scott, founder of BLM Utah, announced on the Black Lives Matter Utah Chapter Facebook page that she has stepped down as president of BLM Utah and the Utah Black History Museum and has moved out of the state due to death threats 

The Utah chapter of BLM sparked anger on social media during the Fourth of July weekend after it posted a message on Facebook calling the American flag a ‘symbol of hate'

The Utah chapter of BLM sparked anger on social media during the Fourth of July weekend after it posted a message on Facebook calling the American flag a ‘symbol of hate'

In the post, she explained that in the last month she began receiving an overwhelming amount of death threats that left her ‘so prepared to die that I welcomed death’ after calling the flag ‘a symbol of hate’

In the post, she explained that in the last month she began receiving an overwhelming amount of death threats that left her ‘so prepared to die that I welcomed death’ after calling the flag ‘a symbol of hate’ 

She posted: ‘The only new thing was when someone attempted to climb over my fence and instead of defending myself, I relaxed my body and told myself that I wished they would hurry and get it over with.’

‘I did not even want to fight back. The exhaustion of being on defense had worn on me. So prepared to die that I welcomed death and that is not living.’

She went on to explain how the death threats also began to affect her family: ‘I also was not prepared to have someone hurt my family. They are amazing. They do not deserve this life. 

'This life of staying in hotels all the time when a death threat comes in. The massive security procedures that became a part of daily life. 

'Moving my daughter’s bedroom to avoid a pipe bomb being thrown through her window.’

‘This is not life. And my family should not have to live that.’

Scott says she has been posting videos to TikTok for a year, ‘trying to get recruiters in other states to hire me so I could relocate.’

The BLM advocate does not say where she and her family moved but says that she ‘moved to a city which is all Black’ and says that she can sleep peacefully.

She explained the heartbreak that came with a quick move where her family left Utah only with the clothes on their backs saying: ‘I had to keep moving my stuff and we had to beat the Klan and white supremacists. It was hard. So hard. So lonely. So painful.’

Scott goes on to congratulate her ‘haters’ but warns that her BLM Utah successor is younger and ‘has more fire.’

Rae Duckworth is now the President of Black Lives Matter Utah and Mario Mathis is now the President of the Utah Black History Museum.

Scott told The Salt Lake Tribune that the post was intended to provoke a reaction, 'The point of the post was to make everyone uncomfortable'

Scott told The Salt Lake Tribune that the post was intended to provoke a reaction, 'The point of the post was to make everyone uncomfortable' 

Scott is seen above at a BLM rally in Salt Lake City in October 2017 after the police killing of Patrick Harmon

Scott is seen above at a BLM rally in Salt Lake City in October 2017 after the police killing of Patrick Harmon 

Scott’s death threats increased after she made statements posted to BLM Utah- which she ran-calling the American flag ‘a symbol of hate’ saying 'When we see this flag we know the person flying it is a racist.’

The post was shared on the Fourth of July in response to a white supremacist march that took place in Philadelphia on Saturday.

'When we Black Americans see this flag we know the person flying it is not safe to be around,' the statement read.

'When we see this flag we know the person flying it is a racist.

'When we see this flag we know that the person flying it lives in a different America than we do.

'When we see this flag, we question your intelligence. We know to avoid you.

‘It is a symbol of hatred.'

The post upset many people and received a wave of backlash online.

BLM Utah then shut off comments to its original July 4th post and said it would donate $1 to the re-election campaign of House Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for every Facebook user it blocked.

‘Welcome racists,’ the account belonging to BLM Utah wrote in response to the backlash generated by its July 4th post. ‘We know you are big mad about the racist flag post. You will not be heard here. You will be blocked and your comments will be deleted.’

Scott said she was outraged by images from Philadelphia, where some 200 members of a group called the Patriot Front, which has been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, staged a march on July 3

Scott said she was outraged by images from Philadelphia, where some 200 members of a group called the Patriot Front, which has been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, staged a march on July 3

Patriot Front members carried shields and smoke bombs and waved banners that read ‘Reclaim America’ as they held a procession down Benjamin Franklin Parkway toward Penn’s Landing

Patriot Front members carried shields and smoke bombs and waved banners that read ‘Reclaim America’ as they held a procession down Benjamin Franklin Parkway toward Penn’s Landing

According to the SPLC, which monitors extremist groups in the United States, the Patriot Front is a Texas-based organization that promotes an ‘explicitly fascist agenda’

According to the SPLC, which monitors extremist groups in the United States, the Patriot Front is a Texas-based organization that promotes an ‘explicitly fascist agenda’

BLM Utah then thanked the commenters ‘for contributing to the re-election of AOC.’

In another Facebook message, BLM Utah referred to its critics as ‘Karen.’

‘Listen Karen,’ BLM Utah wrote. ‘Confronting you and this country about your racism isn’t hatred. Addressing racism isn’t racist.

‘We will not bow down to you. We will not beg you to stop being racist. We will proactively destroy the systems that continue to give you the power to marginalize people of color. Period.’

The group added: ‘You are the ones denying jobs and housing to us. You spew microaggressions upon us in the workplace.

‘You profile us in stores. You repeat negative stereotypes about us. Then you bring up your token Black friend and say “I’m not racist my best friend is Black” to excuse your ignorance.

‘Just stop talking. We don’t teach hatred, we spread reality and that reality is bitter on your forked tongue. Swallow it. Internalize it. And realize that you are the problem.’

The July 4th post went viral, generating hundreds of likes and shares as well as dozens of comments.

Scott told The Salt Lake Tribune that the post was intended to provoke a reaction. 'The point of the post was to make everyone uncomfortable,' Scott said.

'The American flag is taught to us from birth to represent freedom, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.'

The post generated angry reaction on social media: ‘BLM is a phony organization that thrives in division,’ commented one Twitter user

The post generated angry reaction on social media: ‘BLM is a phony organization that thrives in division,’ commented one Twitter user

Another commenter wrote: ‘I love this flag and love this country!! I fly it proudly regardless of what you want to call me!!’

Another commenter wrote: ‘I love this flag and love this country!! I fly it proudly regardless of what you want to call me!!’

Another Twitter user wrote: 'Based on this tweet I think BLM Utah should transition to BLM Cuba and let’s see if they like this flag next July 4th. 'Respecting the flag and our ancestors who gave their lives for it, both black and white, is nonnegotiable.'

Another Twitter user wrote: 'Based on this tweet I think BLM Utah should transition to BLM Cuba and let’s see if they like this flag next July 4th. 'Respecting the flag and our ancestors who gave their lives for it, both black and white, is nonnegotiable.'

Another Twitter user accused BLM of ‘declaring war on the US.’ They wrote: ‘Fly your flag proudly! If you don’t have one, please get one or even print one for your window. And prepare for the worst because it is coming!’

Another Twitter user accused BLM of ‘declaring war on the US.’ They wrote: ‘Fly your flag proudly! If you don’t have one, please get one or even print one for your window. And prepare for the worst because it is coming!’

Scott said she was outraged by images from Philadelphia, where some 200 members of a group called the Patriot Front, which has been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, staged a march on July 3.

She explained her outrage to ABC 4, ‘I watched a bunch of white supremacist march through Philadelphia with American flags and then I waited for outrage. No outrage came… which made me angry. Then I realized the Ku Klux Klan marches with that flag, patriot front, proud boys, oath keepers, the three percenters, and I’ve never heard outrage about them using the flag for hate… so I said what a lot of us are thinking.’

The posts and comments on the American flag didn’t just spark outrage online but were condemned by Governor Spencer Cox and the NAACP.

Gov. Cox called the comments about the flag ‘despicable and wrong,’ adding, ‘I think our flag stands against racism. I said I refuse to let white supremacists take away what that flag stands for and I refuse to let Lex Scott take away what that flag stands for.’

President of the NAACP Utah State Conference, Jeanetta Williams disagreed with BLM Utah’s remarks: ‘The flag stands for all the people who have lived and served to bring about the best of the American Experience, that all people are created equal.’

‘Real American Patriots have stood for equality and justice for all. While we recognize that the history of our nation is marked with both failures and successes in the treatment of minorities, we know the way forward starts with respect and togetherness for all Americans.’

She continued: ‘the highest aspirations expressed from the founding of the Union, through the Emancipation Declaration, the 13th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution, the Enactment of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, to the millions of Americans who support their fellow citizens of all races, national origin, and color.’

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