A board at the Department of Motor Vehicles voted against the proposed plates Thursday.

The board was appointed by Rick Perry who's vying for the GOP's Presidential nomination and recently said about the plates,

“We don't need to be opening old wounds.”

 

The Confederate flag has a history of carrying racist undertones.

Despite grumblings from some members of its organization, popular rocker Kid Rick accepted the honorary Great Expectations award from the Detroit branch of the NAACP over the weekend.

The decision to honor Rock was challenged by some of the group's constituents because of the McComb County, MI native's use of confederate flags during his on-stage performances. Rock tried to quell angst by telling the nearly 10,000 people in attendance that he is far from racist.

"I love America. I love Detroit, and I love black people," the musician said Sunday (May 1) during the NAACP's annual Fight for Freedom Fund dinner in Detroit.

Prior to the event some 50 plus people picketed in from the building, in opposition of the organizations decision to honor Rock, burning a confederate flag in protest.

Detroit NAACP President Wendell Anthony stands by his decision to honor Rock saying before the event, "We're not lifting up the flag. We're lifting up a gentleman who has worked very hard to be a booster for Detroit."

 Rock, real name Robert Ritchie, was greeted with applause as he accepted his award and announced that his organization will be donating $50,000 to several groups in the city. The entertainer also revealed he would be donating another $50,000 to storm relief in the Southern states affected by recent storms.

 As previously reported, when the decision to honor Kid Rock was first announced many were outraged, feeling that the artist's use of the confederate flag during shows is counterproductive to what the NAACP stands for.

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With the 150^th anniversary of the civil war vastly approaching, the New York Times is drawing attention to a number of southern states planning to celebrate the historic event largely without mention of its ties to slavery.

According to The Times a parade is being planned in Montgomery, Ala., along with a mock swearing-in of Jefferson Davis as president of the Confederacy.

Additionally the ‘Sons of Confederate Veterans' and some of its local chapters are preparing various television commercials including one that says,

“All we wanted was to be left alone to govern ourselves.”

Commander-in-chief of the ‘Sons' Michael Givens tells The Times that the South is tired of being labeled as “racist” when they were only fighting to protect their independence.

“We in the South, who have been kicked around for an awfully long time and are accused of being racist, we would just like the truth to be known…While there were many causes of the war, he said, “our people were only fighting to protect themselves from an invasion and for their independence.”

According to the NAACP however there is one crystal clear reason for the war; the right to own slaves.

Lonnie Randolph president of the South Carolina N.A.A.C.P., says he's been “dumbfounded” by “all of this glamorization and sanitization of what really happened” and tells the Times,

“I can only imagine what kind of celebration they would have if they had won,” he said.

“When Southerners refer to states' rights, he said, “they are really talking about their idea of one right — to buy and sell human beings.”

The NAACP is working to protest a number of activities planned in celebration of the war.

The degradation, pain, and injustice associated with the “good ol' Stars & Bars” is shared by countless Black residents of the first state to secede from the Union. It is because of those negative connotations that the NCAA and the Atlantic Coast Conference found that it was necessary to strip the state of their right to host a trilogy of collegiate basketball championships, effectively taking millions of dollars away from the state.

The ACC previously awarded the tournament to Myrtle Beach from 2011 to 2013. The decision drew widespread criticism from the NAACP, which was engaging in a full fledge boycott of the state because of its insistence on flying the flag of the Confederacy from the state's capitol. Commissioner John Swofford says the tournament was awarded to Myrtle Beach with the understanding that discussions were held with groups that had sensitivities regarding the flag, but that “it has become clear this was not the case.”

North Carolina was chosen as a suitable replacement for the tournament, as Raleigh will host the ACC Championship in 2011 and 2013 while Greensboro has hosting duties for 2012.