Group wants Confederate flag license plate

It would honor Southern heritage, say the Sons of Confederate Veterans. It would recall an ugly past, say foes.

TALLAHASSEE - A group that helped raise a huge Confederate battle flag above a North Florida highway now wants to bring the symbol to state license plates.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans is planning a campaign to create a specialty automobile license tag honoring what supporters call the state's Southern heritage.

"We know the flag is controversial because it's been misused by misguided people," said John W. Adams of Deltona, division commander for the organization. "But this tag is not intended to be divisive."

Black leaders said the emblem symbolizes oppression and are beginning to mount opposition to the plate, along with others who criticize the ballooning number of specialty tags.

"I would hope the legislation proposing this tag never sees light of day," said Rep. Ed Jennings, D-Gainesville, chairman of the Florida Conference of Black State Legislators. "It is only divisive."

Gov. Jeb Bush decided to take down the Confederate flag that had flown at the Capitol for 22 years in 2001, saying he wanted to avert problems encountered by other states, including South Carolina and Georgia, flying rebel banners.

Bush spokesman Jacob DiPietre said "the governor is adamantly against such a proposal."

Eight other states already have license tags available only to members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, which consists of descendants of those who fought in the Civil War. The organization's proposed Florida tag would be available to any motorist.

The group, which claims 2,000 members in Florida, raised a 20-by-38 foot flag in a February 2002 ceremony at a memorial along Interstate 75 near the Interstate 10 interchange.

For the tag to gain approval, the organization must conduct a marketing survey showing that at least 15,000 vehicle owners would consider buying it, submit a $60,000 application and get the measure approved by the Legislature.

Florida already has 54 specialty tags available for purchase, with 40 more approved by the Legislature and waiting to be issued.

Specialty tag buyers pay an additional $15 to $25 for the tags, with the surcharge benefiting a specific cause or institution. Proceeds from the Confederate tag would help fund the group's historic preservation projects, which include locating Confederate grave sites and maintaining historic flags and artifacts.

Adams would like to create a tag that includes a crest of flags of the Confederacy that flew over Florida. Among them would be the Confederate battle flag, often associated with the segregationist South.

"We'd hope to provide something that the public would point to with pride," Adams said.

But Dean Luke of the Orange County National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said "the hair on my neck is standing up right now when I think about what that tag means. That flag has dramatically different meaning to people, and it should not be on a license tag."

The battle flag is included in the logo of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and appears on specialty plates in Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Mississippi, which have created such tags beginning in 1997.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times 490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 Contact the Times | Privacy Policy Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright