Confederate Flag Fans Won't Surrender License Plates

The battle continues over Virginia license plates that show the Confederate flag — even after the plates have been recalled. Holders vow they will not surrender the old plates.

This summer, state officials removed the controversial flag from the specialty plates supporting the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The new plates only include a background silhouette of soldiers on horseback.

The DMV issued a recall of more than 1,600 plates with the controversial flag. Only 187 have been returned, according to WAVY. Some holders even sent back the new plates, instead.

Kevin Collier of Suffolk says he’s honoring his ancestors as he continues to drive with the recalled plates, which were due back to the state Oct. 4.

“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,” Collier told WVEC.

More at Patch:

• Poll: Virginians Split on Confederate Flag License Plate
• Police: Virginia Man Tried to Incite Riot at Confederate Flag Rally

National sentiment turned against public displays of the flag after a shooter killed nine African-American churchgoers in Charleston, S.C., earlier this year. In messages prior to the shootings, the killer promised a ”race war” and shared images of himself wrapped in a Confederate flag.

The court decision emboldened Gov. Terry McAuliffe to revisit Virginia’s failed effort to remove the flag from plates in the Commonwealth.

“Even its display on state issued license tags is, in my view, unnecessarily divisive and hurtful to too many of our people,” McAuliffe said in June.