SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) – The president of the Black Lives Matter Utah Chapter is stepping down more than a month after sharing a controversial post about the American Flag on social media.
In a Sunday post to the group’s Facebook page, Lex Scott announces she is stepping down as the president of the group and President of the Utah Black History Museum. Additionally, Scott confirms she and her family have “relocated to another state.”
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.”
She continues, saying she has “received death threats like a flood” over the last month. While “this is not new,” Scott says someone “attempted to climb over my fence.”
“The exhaustion of being on defense had worn on me,” Scott explains. “I also was not prepared to have someone hurt my family…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.”
While Scott does not reveal where she and her family have relocated to, she says they “moved to a city which is all Black.”
“I have always felt ugly in Utah. Here, people stop to compliment me. They call me beautiful. They say that I am pretty,” Scott adds. “I will miss Mount Olympus. I will miss your faces. I will miss yelling at police. I will miss the CAG. I will miss striking fear into the hearts and souls of racists. I will miss the change that we make. I will miss the fun we have had.”
Scott and the Black Lives Matter Utah Chapter – not connected to the national Black Lives Matter movement – came under fire on July 4 after saying those that fly the American flag are “racist.”
“When we see this flag, we question your intelligence. We know to avoid you. It is a symbol of hatred,” the post reads in part.
When ABC4 spoke with Scott about the post, which quickly gained traction on social media, she said she had no regrets.
“I don’t take it back because some of us live in a different America…we really do. We don’t have the same experience as the people who are flying that [flag],” Scott explains.
The post prompted widespread responses from across Utah, including the NAACP and Governor Spencer Cox.
“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,” the NAACP states. “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.”
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.”
According to Scott, Rae Duckworth is now the President of Black Lives Matter Utah while Mario Mathis is assuming the position of President of the Utah Black History Museum.
