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This plate needs to stay off the table

By SUE CARLTON
Published February 7, 2007

Here comes the push for a motorist's right to have an official Confederate auto tag on his bumper.

What could be the most divisive state-sanctioned license plate yet would include the Confederate battle flag - to some a symbol of slavery and racism.

But the Florida division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans insists the idea is Southern pride and preservation. "A purely historical tag," says John Adams, whose group has already collected the signatures and fees to jump-start the cause.

No one's arguing against history, particularly the kind we don't want to repeat. Museums, libraries and textbooks are excellent places for recording how we got here and what it cost us.

But a Confederate license plate issued by the government? One that will surely appeal to some whose interest in that flag is, well, less than scholarly?

Our state shouldn't be in the business of offering up contentious tags - and we're not talking Gators vs. Seminoles here.

Specialty plates were all about saving the panthers and cheering the Bucs until Florida's "Choose Life" tag came out. That, of course, sparked the current call for a prochoice tag. Like we don't have enough reasons to get riled behind the wheel already.

No one says you can't use your car as your canvas for free speech, with bumper stickers bragging on your honor student, dissing your president or, yes, touting your heritage.

But for a lot of us, a Confederate tag officially issued by the state would be one powerful polarizing symbol.

As state Sen. Arthenia Joyner told the Times, "It's the message we send to the nation that racism is alive and well in Florida."

Says Adams: "Obviously there's probably some controversy that makes some folks gun-shy" about lending legislative support. But he's confident the tag will come to pass. More than a half-dozen states have similar tags already.

Nothing wrong with knowing our history - we just have to remember to learn from it.

* * *

Free speech, Part II: The woman who asked Charlie Crist the Question has resigned from the club where it happened.

Lee Drury De Cesare, 74, is an acid-tongued former columnist and current blogger who delights in the filleting of public figures. Recently she quit Tampa's Tiger Bay Club, where persons-of-the-moment go to get grilled.

At one meeting, De Cesare famously asked the future governor about a rumor that he was gay. ("I'm not," he answered.)

Recently the club's board voted to ask De Cesare not to send scorching followup e-mails to speakers after they had appeared. (Some speakers said they didn't want to come back.)

Predictably, De Cesare, who has been known to threaten to beat a politician with a broom if he didn't make good on political promises, resigned. (In true De Cesare fashion, she briefly reconsidered so she could have a crack at City Council candidates at Tiger Bay Friday. But it looks like the club and one of its most vocal members have parted ways.)

"It's supposed to be a political club," she said. "It's not a garden party." Though to some candidates this week, it might feel a little more like one.

[Last modified February 7, 2007, 05:59:19]