Dear Mayor Jim Ferrell and City Council members,

We have been celebrating diversity in our city, state, and nation for many years now. We love and welcome people from every corner of the world and embrace their music, dress, traditions, religions, and native tongues. We rejoice that we have brought so many peoples together as one. I personally love it.

Celebrating peoples and world cultures is an important thing. However, special interests and identity politics is completely another thing. Rather than unite, special, conflicting, and rivaling interests and politics divide.

We have the duty and responsibility to unite our people and support the American traditions and values we all hold so dear as one people – not as a people divided by personal preferences, identities, or ideologies.

Our city, state, and national government should represent those uniting traditions and values for all of us.

Our city, state and national flags do just that. Let’s keep those traditions and values intact.

It is unnecessary and unwise to introduce flags, policies, or procedures which divide.

Let’s keep our city, state, and national flags flying high in our city, and on our public properties everywhere to represent all citizens. They are for everyone. The city, state, and national flags at City Hall, Community Centers and public lands are truly for all! And that is who they represent!

Patricia Conant

Federal Way