Lake Worth Beach city commissioner Sarah Malega took a stand against discontinuing the flying of the Haitian flag during Haitian Heritage Month in May.
“I’m not gonna sit here and ever vote for the Haitian flag not to be raised, and the LGBTQ flag not to be raised. I won’t,” Malega said during a July city commission meeting. “And in a time right now where there’s division in this country, I will not turn my back on either one of those communities, and say that we will no longer raise that flag.”
About 25 minutes later, Malega voted in support of commissioner Anthony Segrich’s proposal to stop flying the Haitian flag in May due to First Amendment concerns. Malega instead expressed support for an idea to rebrand the city flag to represent people of all cultures, and to host more events that celebrate the city’s diverse population.
All commissioners voted in favor of Segrich’s proposal except for Christopher McVoy, who argued that simply rebranding the city flag wouldn’t be enough to convey that Lake Worth Beach is an inclusive place.
“The [Haitian] flag is a recognized symbol that tells people, ‘This community supports you. This community will look out for you. This community welcomes you,’” McVoy said, comparing it to Malega’s reasoning for why the LGBTQ flag was important to raise.
But Segrich’s concern was less about whether or not the city should celebrate the Haitian community, and more about what First Amendment implications would come from flying it. He said the city’s vague policy on which flags are acceptable to raise makes it easy for anyone to win a lawsuit against them if commissioners approve the flying of one flag but deny another.
Segrich argued that the American flag is already all-inclusive of people’s backgrounds.
“A country’s flag represents that country,” Segrich said. “When you come here, you become an American, and our flag represents you. The American flag represents the Haitians, the Guatemalans, the Italians…who are here.”
This segment of the meeting itself was non-confrontational for the most part. Commissioners instead frequently took pauses in their sentences and stumbled over words in an apparent attempt to avoid a heated debate and stray away from controversial statements.
Most commissioners agreed that moving forward, a clear flag policy needs to be set in place, the city would benefit from a rebranded flag that is inclusive of all cultures prominent in Lake Worth Beach and the city should plan more events that celebrate the cultural diversity of the area.
The city will continue to fly the American flag and the LGBTQ flag during Pride month.
