Texas DMV Rejects Confederate License Plates On Unanimous Vote

A Texas Department of Motor Vehicles board stocked with Gov. Rick Perry appointees and zero African-Americans voted 9-0 to reject a proposal to allow Confederate flags on Texas vanity license plates.

The Confederate plate proposal was sponsored by Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson (R) and his agency. In the process of trying to pimp the proposed plates for the Sons of Confederate Veterans Patterson told the board the license plate would "commemorate the soldiers, not the politicians."

Yeah, right.  That old 'heritage not hate' spin line. eh Jerry?    The Confederate heritage is one of racism and hate.

"What we are doing is dummying down history by saying if it's southern, it's bad," Patterson said. "It is not as simple as we try to make it."

Neither is it as complex as you're trying to paint it.  The Confederates were traitors to the United States government that we should be reviling, not celebrating.  They took up arms against the federal government so they could continue to oppress my ancestors and keep slavery alive.

Of course, Texas NAACP President Gary Bledsoe had a dissenting opinion.   He and others appealed to the board not to sanction a symbol that represents such a dark period of American history for so many people.

"This is the wrong thing to do," Bledsoe told the board. "We don't want others to look at Texas with scorn and ridicule and think that we are a bunch of country bumpkins."

Gov. Perry had been quiet about the festering controversy over the plates until he stated two weeks ago,"That's just a part of history that you don't need to scrape that wound again,"

That 150 year old wound caused by 'The War To Perpetuate Slavery' is still affecting us as a people a century and a half later. Then I had to go to war in the Houston Chronicle's comment section on the story

The Confederacy was a failed state whose sole reason for existence was to perpetuate the enslavement of my ancestors. They committed treason by taking up arms against the United States government to do so.

The NAACP, LULAC, and the ACLU are necessary organizations because some of you who share U-LIE's Confederate flag waving sentiments still think that by dint of being born with white skin, you can oppress people with impunity.

But it was past time for the Texas DMV to recognize the fact that some of the 25 million people who call this state home aren't down with having their tax dollars used to create a license plate with a deeply offensive symbol of hate, oppression and intolerance on it..

Besides, the plates we have already are pretty cool.  There are also dozens of other non offensive plates you already have access to.if you don't want the standard issue Texas license plate. 

If you want to showcase bigotry on your car, get a bumper sticker to express yourself.