It seems the Texas Board of Motor Vehicles license board are to try and decide (for a second time) about the fate of a proposed Texas license plate design submitted by the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
For a state whose motto is “friendship” and who has signs all over our state highways with the reminder to “drive friendly,” this seems to be an unacceptable idea.
Respecting history is one thing, and we certainly have a dazzling array of other Texas-based nonprofits and associations pushing their own charitable license plate options; however, waving battle flags of a lost cause that many find personally offensive and a reminder of hundreds of years of slavery and oppression is just unfriendly.
And in state still smarting over the dragging death in Jasper of James Byrd, Jr, at the hands of racists who reveled in some of this same iconography, do we really need to see even an implied state endorsement of hatred on the back of our cars and pick-up trucks? I seriously doubt this is the image we want to project of Texas in 2011.
For more on the story see the Chronicle coverage and the smart opinion piece from the Dallas Star-Telegraph columnist Bob Ray Sanders.
The Texas DMV is encouraging anyone with an opinion on the matter to email them with comments or suggestions.