LYNNWOOD — Lynnwood City Councilwoman Isabel Mata apologized in person Monday night for remarks she made about the American flag that drew sharp criticism from veterans, military families and residents, telling the council she had heard their stories, accepted a flag offered to her as a gesture of sincerity and would raise it “proudly.” The chamber erupted in applause to Mata’s apology.
Councilwoman Mata in the May 11 City Council meeting after public comment, addressed the “hurt to people” caused by her statements at the previous council meeting in which she said “To me, a pride flag is way more relatable than an American flag” and suggested replacing the 27 American flags that fly year-round at Wilcox Park, the city and region’s bicentennial U.S. Flag Park.
The in-person remarks on Monday came one week after her initial written apology and amid a wave of public criticism that included hundreds of messages on social media and emails to the council, a number of which were abusive laced with slurs, threats and profanity.
“I want to start tonight by saying I’m sorry, even as an American citizen who wasn’t born here, and that caused real hurt to people in this community, some of which that are here tonight—veterans, military families, and residents, who have given everything to this country,” Mata began as she teared up throughout the rest of her apology. “That was absolutely not my intention, but intention doesn’t erase the impact. The way I expressed myself was careless, and the community deserves better.”
Mata said she had watched with discomfort as the American flag was sometimes used as a symbol of hate and exclusion, particularly as a queer person, and that had made her want to distance herself from one of the nation’s most sacred symbols.
“But earlier today, I was reminded of something thanks to a community member — shout out to Jim,” she said. “They told me that even when the flag brings up discomfort, it still belongs to all of us, even those of us who weren’t born here, and they were right.”
She continued: “Since this country’s founding, many groups have tried to claim this symbol as representing only themselves and their followers, but they do not own the flag. They do not own the red, white, and blue. We all do — every culture, every background, every community that has ever believed in the promise of this country. When we reject that symbol and we hand it over to the people who want to divide us, we’re failing the flag. So, I’m not willing to do that anymore. So, I will gladly accept the flag that Miss Ha brought, and I will raise it proudly.”
Councilwoman Mata said she was still figuring out what the flag means to her personally as both a community member and elected representative. She acknowledged being less than six months into her term and learning that words spoken from the dais carry weight far beyond the four walls of the chamber.
“This week was really hard,” Mata said. “I learned that the words that we speak up here matter, and that even if the room is empty, there are more people watching than I think. And while I speak for myself, I am a representative of this entire community, and last week I didn’t do that justice.”
She committed to pause before speaking and process her emotions more carefully: “I do not like the taste of my foot in my mouth.” She thanked those who held her accountable with kindness and said she remained willing to have hard conversations even when they became emotional.
“This is a hard job,” she added. “But I’m willing to have the hard conversations, and even if I get emotional, this is the job, and I want to do it well.”
Her May 4 comments came three weeks before Memorial Day during a discussion about how the city should celebrate its diversity. Mata, who described herself as a queer woman and an American citizen who was not born in the United States, had questioned whether the flags at the park, established in the 1960s, still represented Lynnwood’s values today. She said the park’s flags stood for “parts of American history that, frankly, are not great” and proposed considering other flags that might better reflect Lynnwood, which she called the most diverse community in Snohomish County.
Councilman Bryce Owings in response to Mata’s apology said, “I want to say I appreciate your apology, Councilwoman Mata, and I take it and I accept it.”
Residents, in public comments that preceded Mata’s apology, conveyed their disappointment to what they perceived as disrespect toward the American flag and urged her to learn more about the meaning and sacrifices behind the American flag.
Trinh Ha, a Vietnamese American Republican candidate running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington’s 8th Congressional District who escaped the horrors of communism with her parents in 1995, shared with Mata that she and her family came to the United States seeking freedom and then offered her an American flag which she accepted.
“Washington is home to close to half a million veterans, the men and women who risked their life to protect America,” Ha said. “Many of them are deeply hurt by Ms. Mata’s unwillingness to honor the American flag. And I myself … felt pained too. I appreciate Ms. Mata’s apology. That is why I’m here today. To ask her to accept this flag as a sign of her sincerity and as mutual respect for a nation we call home. And I hope that she will fly it proudly from now on.”
Jason Moore, a Lynnwood veteran who served two deployments in Iraq with the Navy, spoke of honoring fellow service members ahead of Memorial Day and expressed disgust at any discussion of replacing flags at a Flag Park.
“I don’t understand why somebody would think that’s a good idea,” Moore said who recalled that last year members of Lynnwood Pride called the police on him for simply observing them raising a pride flag at the park without permission.
“All I see is this is a continuation of what was attempted last year when the parks and arts director told them not to raise that flag and they did it anyways. So now we have council talking about doing the same thing in an official capacity which is unacceptable for this community,” Moore said adding, “Please be a little more in touch with the community that you serve before you start making suggestions or ideas that are more political stunts than they are good ideas.”
Hannah McDonald of Lynnwood offered a constructive suggestion, saying she and her wife had discussed donating toward an additional flagpole outside of City Hall to accommodate flags such as the Pride flag, Juneteenth flag or Purple Heart flag. However, Luke, another Lynnwood resident, argued that the issue was not cost but representation on public property.
“The issue is displaying a flag that does not represent the whole community on public property,” he said. “This is our city. It is my city. I have one flag that represents me. It’s right there [looking at the American flag].”
Council President Nick Coelho spoke before Mata’s apology, defended freedom of expression in emails to the council outraged over Mata’s May 4 comments but stressed the duty to exercise that freedom responsibly.
“Freedom comes with responsibility,” President Coelho said. “At the core of the American experience are not only rights and protections, but the responsibility to be a good citizen, to model the kind of behavior that allows that freedom of expression, that political disagreement, and public service for that matter to survive.”
He condemned the “tidal wave of cruel and vile and at times threatening language” directed at council members, stating that while criticism to Mat’s comments were fair the dehumanizing speech “chills” democratic participation: “If we can’t model civility as neighbors, at the local level, when the stakes are so low, how are we ever gonna hope to recover that civility as a country?”
Mata had previously condemned a surge of abusive emails she received in the days after her May 4 remarks. Emails reviewed by the Lynnwood Times contained vulgar insults, death threats, anti-LGBTQ slurs and calls for her to resign or leave the country.
Among the messages were statements such as “You are a breathing piece of dog shit. Your mental illness is overwhelming. Faggots and Muslims have no place in American politics or American education.”
Another read, “Commit suicide you filthy ass eater.”
One email wished her harm on Memorial Day: “I hope that dumb bitch Mata has a fatal heart attack on Memorial Day.”
Others told her to “Get the fuck out of our country you disgusting whatever it is you consider yourself. Go back to the shit hole you came from,” or threatened physical violence: “You best be thankful I don’t live near you because you’ve disrespected my country by disrespecting my flag! I’d put my size eleven boot right up your fat ass!”
One email attacked her identity as a queer woman, writing: “An vile ugly ‘Jewish queer’ Anti American pig!! You are an embarrassment to Jews everywhere….”
Author: Mario Lotmore
