Virginia lawmaker says it’s time to scrap the official Robert E. Lee license plate

Editor’s note: Following is an excerpt of the news story by Virginia Mercury writer Graham Moomaw that was featured in Sunday’s Rapp News Daily email newsletter and is referenced in Mr. Jones’ column.

Over the last few years, many Virginia officials have made it clear they don’t want the state to officially venerate Robert E. Lee anymore.

The massive, state-owned Robert E. Lee statue is gone from Richmond’s Monument Avenue...

But there are still 1,766 vehicles in Virginia with government-issued license plates honoring Lee, a slave owner who commanded the Confederate army during the Civil War. The plate, one of hundreds of special designs motorists can purchase from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, calls Lee “The Virginia Gentleman.”

After a Northern Virginia constituent asked about the issue, Del. Candi Mundon King, D-Prince William, says it’s time for the license plates to go too. And she’s filed a bill to get rid of them.

“We are in an era where people want to rewrite history and they want to have an incorrect telling of what happened,” Mundon King said in an interview. “And when we promote things like that license plate, we are pretending that this is something admirable. And his actions, committing treason against the U.S., were not.”

Mundon King’s bill appears to be written broadly enough that the prohibition can apply to both the Lee plate design and custom messages purchasers can apply to any plate. The bill would prohibit any personalized plate “that makes reference to the Confederacy or any persons who committed acts of treason against the United States.” ► To read the full story, go to rappnews.link/qx6.