Black Lives Matter Utah Chapter leader leaves state due to death threats
Aug 9, 2021, 4:34 PM
FILE: Lex Scott, founder of Black Lives Matter Utah, cheers during a rally at the Salt Lake City Public Safety Building after a jury found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty in the killing of George Floyd on Tuesday, April 20, 2021. Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY — The leader of the Black Lives Matter Utah chapter said she’s no longer leading the group.
In a video posted to Facebook, Lex Scott also said that she left Utah fearing for her life.
“Over the last month you know that I received death threats like a flood,” she wrote in a separate post. “This is not new. 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.”
Scott said she had to take extra precautions and get extra security at her house.
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“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.”
The former Black Lives Matter Utah leader didn’t say where she moved to but called it an “all-black city.”
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“I looked around and there was not one white person in that store. There are literally no white people anywhere. There aren’t even white cops. I made a doctor’s appointment, my doctor is Black. My mailman is Black, my daughter’s teachers are Black, the billboards have Black lawyers on them. No one profiles us in stores. No one even notices us.”
Scott drew a lot of criticism when she shared a post on July 4 calling the American flag a symbol of hatred and describing those who fly the flag as racist. Several politicians, and even other leaders of Utah’s Black Lives Matter chapters, spoke out against it.
Scott said Rae Duckworth will now lead the group.
