The North Carolina Motor Vehicles Division said this week it would stop issuing and renewing license plates with the Confederacy flag.
Under the new policy, which went into effect earlier this year, the agency said in a statement to StarNews Online on Monday that “it will no longer issue or renew special plates with the Confederate battle flag or any variation of that flag. “
“The Motor Vehicles Division (DMV) has determined that the Confederate battle flag plaques have the potential to offend those who see them,” the agency told the local vehicle. “We conclude, therefore, that the display of the Confederate battle flag is inappropriate for display on license plates of special vehicles, which remain the property of the state.”
According to the vehicle, the state agency had been issuing plates with the design of the Confederate flag for members of the Children of the Confederate Veterans.
A spokesman for the group said members were unaware of the new policy until they tried to renew their license plates this year.
The action was said to have occurred months after the agency said it had received complaints about the plates over the summer amid widespread protests against police brutality and racism after George Floyd’s police murder.
At the time, the protests also generated a new impetus across the country to get rid of the symbols of the pro-slavery cause of the Civil War era in public spaces.
In its statement confirming the new policy for StarNews Online on Monday, the agency pointed to an earlier decision in a case between the North Carolina Confederate Children division and the state.
According to the vehicle, the group filed a lawsuit in the late 1990s in an effort to be labeled a civic organization and therefore be allowed to receive a special ticket. The group would have won the case. and the decision paved the way for the special plates of the Confederate flag.
“Consistent with the decision of the North Carolina Division of the Children of Confederate Veterans v. Faulkner, the DMV will continue to recognize the Division of the Children of North Carolina Confederate Veterans (‘SCV’) as a civic organization entitled to the issuance of a special sign, ”said the agency to the vehicle.
“However, the classification of the SCV as a civic organization does not give it the right to dictate the content of the government’s speech on that special plaque,” he added.
Despite the SCV’s resistance to whether the move was a violation of the previous decision, the agency said it tried to contact the organization to have another project considered for the plates.
“As these efforts have so far been unsuccessful, the DMV has determined that the agency would not issue or renew these special plates any more,” added the agency.
In the meantime, the agency told the establishment that “it will issue standard plates to SCV members and either refund any paid special plate fees or provide different special plates.”