Virginia has banned driving with a license plate that depicts the Confederate flag — but some in the state are resisting.
Around 1,600 Virginians with state-issued Confederate flag plates received a letter last month from the DMV saying they had until October 4 to swap them out for new ones that don’t show the flag. Only 187 people have so far complied.
One man who has not is Kevin Collier.
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“Next thing you know, they’re going to say you can’t wear blue on Monday … or you can’t wear yellow on Thursday,” Collier, who is active with the Sons of Confederate Veterans, told a local news channel. “Where’s it going to end?”
Gov. Terry McAuliffe called for the change this summer after a man pictured posing with the flag was charged with massacring nine African-Americans at a Charleston, S.C. church. Driving with the plates is now a misdemeanor in Virginia. McAuliffe’s ban was part of a wave of moves by officials across the south intended to end state-sanctioned displays of the flag, which is seen by most Americans as a symbol of racism and white supremacy, but remains cherished by a dwindling group of white southerners. Collier said he descends from a Confederate soldier, and he wants to do his part for the cause. “I can’t fight on the battlefield like they did, but I can fight however I can in modern times, and I’m not giving them plates up,” he said.Recommended
Zachary Roth