Most African-Americans and other people of color think they are. According to ThinkProgress, this is not a new conversation. This goes back to the early 2000’s where the Sons of Confederate Veterans first proposed the idea.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans originally started in during the days of the Civil War which was back in 1861. When blacks heard of the war that was about to happen, they rushed to help their country in the fight. They were immediately rejected by the Government and the Army for guess what? Being black. This caused for them to start their own troops and they were deemed “The Colored Infantry” or “The United States Colored Troops”. When white Generals and abolitionists started to reject the idea of not allowing blacks to fight, Lincoln, being the people pleaser he was, changed his mind on the policy of not allowing blacks to fight. Although he changed his mind it took him a whole year to do so.

So, if you’re looking at the origins of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, you can see that they were an all white troop that were completely against fighting next to a black individual. Since this organization is something that is passed on through generations, we could assume that these mindsets are still walking around to this day. We cannot be fully sure due to the change black individuals have had and the fact that whites have stopped being so brave about their hate for blacks and other people of color. In my opinion, I wouldn’t let these license plates affect you if it offends you now. We cannot change the ignorance in the mind of others. We can only love them for the things they don’t understand.