North Carolina Will No Longer Issue Confederate Flag License Plates
North Carolina has finally decided to not issue a license with a racist symbol.
The North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles announced that it will no longer issue or renew license plates with the Confederate flag. The government-issued speciality plates had previously been made available for the group Sons of Confederate Veterans.
The agency said in a statement, “The Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has determined that license plates bearing the Confederate battle flag have the potential to offend those who view them.”
The statement continued, “We have therefore concluded that display of the Confederate
battle flag is inappropriate for display on specialty license plates, which remain property of the state.”
The change began on Jan. 1 and members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, who have been fighting to keep the racist symbol on license plates since the 1990s, complained they didn't know of the change until their renewals were denied.
According to the New York Times, Larry McCluney Jr., the commander in chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said in an interview, “What we see here is just an attack on American history. We live in an era where all it takes is for one or a couple of people to say, ‘I’m offended by it,’ yet the majority has to kowtow to it.”
North Carolina was one of several Southern states that offered the plates with the Confederate battle flag on them to members of the group Sons of Confederate Veterans.
The state said it would continue to recognize the Sons of Confederate Veterans as a civic organization, which entitles the group to a specialty plate. But it just can’t have the Confederate flag on it.
