Owen Yates, of the Mechanicsville chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, displays his new Sons of Confederate Veterans license plate, encased in a theft-proof bracket, on his car Monday in Richmond.
Posted on 07/09/2002 7:38:15 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
RICHMOND - Jeff Ellett has had his new, Confederate license plate on his red-and-gray pickup for about three weeks now, and it's attracted plenty of attention.
Positive attention, that is.
``I've had people at work, or on the street, or in shopping centers ask about it,'' Ellett said. ``Now it has caused some of these people to say, 'Let me see if I have any Confederate ancestors, so I can get the plates.'''
Applications for membership in the Virginia chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans have more than tripled since the group won the right to display the rebel flag on specialty state license plates this spring, organization says. Only members of the group, who are descendants of Confederate veterans, are eligible to display the plates.
``They are proud of their heritage and they want to display the flag,'' said Michael D. Kendrick, a recruiter for the group's Virginia chapter, who has received 40 to 50 application requests a week since the plates began appearing.
The group has about 3,200 members in Virginia. A spokeswoman with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles said the agency had issued 550 such plates as of
July 2.
Frank Earnest, quartermaster of the SCV's Virginia Division, said the new plates also are an added incentive for potential applicants who must dig through old records to produce proof of their ancestry.
``The ones who have to do more research get motivated by the fact that they can get the plates,'' Earnest said.
The group's state commander, Brag Bowling, said the flurry of applications also is typical of every time the Sons of Confederate Veterans is involved in a public squabble over what they consider to be their rights.
``Because people don't like to hear that their heritage is less meaningful than anyone else's,'' Bowling said. ``It makes people mad, and that helps our organization grow.''
Virginia's decision this spring not to fight the courts ended its three-year legal battle to stop the Sons of Confederate Veterans from displaying its logo on license plates.
The SCV sued Virginia in 1999 after the General Assembly approved a plate for the organization but refused to allow the group's logo, which features a Confederate flag. Some legislators argued that the flag represents bigotry.
But U.S. District Judge Jackson L. Kiser ruled in favor of the group in January 2001, on the grounds that Virginia's refusal to issue the tag because of its Confederate flag logo amounted to discrimination against the SCV, and violated the group's right to free speech.
The state maintained that the license plates constitute public speech and the state had the right to regulate which groups and designs are allowed on plates that represent Virginia.
But a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Kiser's ruling this spring. A few days later, state officials announced their decision not to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
``You cannot suppress a powerful symbol,'' Bowling said.
Owen Yates was one of the first to put in for the plates, even before the issue was settled in the courts. He is so careful with them that he has enclosed them in a locking plastic holder to keep them safe.
``I'm proud of my ancestors; they fought for the state,'' said Yates, an SCV member who works as a consultant at the DuPont plant south of Richmond. ``It was a different time. People had lots of loyalty for the states.''
He added: ``But then, I'm from the old school. I want to go back to the '50s, when I didn't know we had a racial problem.''
Owen Yates, of the Mechanicsville chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, displays his new Sons of Confederate Veterans license plate, encased in a theft-proof bracket, on his car Monday in Richmond.
I wish I had relatives from The Confederacy!
I'd apply for that plate in a fraction of a second!
I would like to see a confederate florida tag - I made my own with a little square CBF sticker on the corner of mine!
I wish I had relatives from The Confederacy!
I'd apply for that plate in a fraction of a second!
Have you researched the matter? You might be surprised. I was near-astounded at the numbers in my family on both sides, for whom it very much was a war of brother against brother and cousin versus cousin. Several of my ancestors voted with their feet in order to do as their conscience dictated, and I'd dearly have love to heard their heartfelt opinions expressed firsthand; those who supported either side.
there was little of the conscript or extorted duty about them. they stood for that in which they believed, and several died for it. I think they all deserve the honour many still pay them, and I try to. And wonder which choice I'd have made, had I been in their shoes in their time.
-archy-/-
WARNING to all "shooters": us REBs are STILL good shots and mostly ARMED!
free dixie NOW,sw
So let me get this straight. In your world, he has no First Amendment rights above the line and you are willing to use a deadly weapon to prevent him from exercising his free speech? Yep, that about works out, looks like the Empire has taken over completely up there. Good work, subject.
Isn't it great that the Confederates lost the war so that all Americans still have the liberties that the Confederates were trying to deny to some (eg. the women whom Jefferson Davis threatened to shoot during the Richmond bread riots of 1863)?
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