North Carolina will no longer issue or renew special license plates with the image of the southern combat flag, officials said Monday.
The state’s motor vehicle department said the agency had received complaints about Confederate flag plates following nationwide protests over George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.
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“The Motor Vehicle Division has determined that license plates bearing the Confederate combat flag have the potential to offend those who view them,” the agency said in a statement obtained by the Associated Press. “We have therefore concluded that the display of the Confederate battle flag is not suitable for display on special license plates, which remain the property of the state.”
The policy, which went into effect January 1, primarily pertains to members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) organization, a civil society organization allowed to hold a special plaque.
North Carolina will no longer issue or renew special license plates featuring the Confederate combat flag after complaints that the image was offensive, state DMV officials said.
Frank Powell, the spokesman for the SCV division in North Carolina, told WRAL on Monday that the group believes the change is illegal.
“The DMV shouldn’t choose which logo to use,” Powell said.
However, the DMV said the agency remains in line with a 1998 lawsuit in which the SCV sued the state for recognition as a social organization.
The state appeals court ruled in favor of the SCV and qualified it for issuing specialty plates. But the DMV said the ruling did not give the group the right to dictate the content of the government speech on that board.
The DMV said it will continue to recognize the group as a social organization entitled to a special board and open to considering an alternative design for the group.
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But until such an agreement is in place, it will “either issue SCV members standard plates and refund any special plates paid for, or provide them with several special plates,” the DMV statement said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.