T1B

Screw_Michigan wrote:Pikkkle, MV disapprove of this latest brand of socialism.

http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/inde ... ive.com%29

Personalized Michigan license plate recalled after complaints it contained racial slur

By Chad D. Lerch | Muskegon Chronicle
December 10, 2009, 7:46AM

MUSKEGON -- Tiffany Gilmore was in the Walmart parking lot on Sherman Avenue last month when she came across a motorcycle with a personalized license plate that sent chills down her spine.

Gilmore, who is black, said the license plate included an abbreviation for a racial slur that encourages hatred toward blacks. The license plate read: DYNGR.

Officials of the Michigan Secretary of State’s office announced Wednesday that they have pulled the license plate. They did not identify the owner, or say where he or she is from.

Gilmore, of Muskegon Heights, said that at the time she saw the license plate, she “went from awe to disbelief to sadness and then anger because I had my 11-year-old son with me and I had to explain it to him.”

She said she called the Secretary of State’s office in Lansing when she got home. After Gilmore spelled the license plate, the employee responded: “Excuse me? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Kelly Chesney, a spokeswoman for the Secretary of State, said her agency conducts extensive screening of applications for personalized license plates. She said a committee reviews the proposed text to avoid offensive language and objectionable content.

The committee includes representatives from ethnic groups and students who know texting lingo. With the evolution of a texting generation that uses abbreviations for almost everything, a license plate with objectionable content occasionally slips through, Chesney said.

After an investigation of Gilmore’s complaint, the Secretary of State’s office decided to pull the license plate, Chesney said. She would not elaborate on whether state officials agreed that the plate was racially insensitive.

The plate’s owner has been notified of the decision. The owner has the right to appeal, she said.

Chesney said officials did not talk with the plate’s owner to find out the intent of the message.

But Gilmore said the plate was downright offensive.

“It’s unacceptable to me, but I’m more concerned about how something like that can slip through the cracks. How many similar plates are out there?

“Things like that shouldn’t be on the roads, not only for people in our state, but what do people from other states think when they see that? It’s just not acceptable.”

There are more than 9 million plated vehicles in Michigan - 283,000 of which have personalized messages. Personalized tags, sometimes referred to as “vanity plates,” cost more than standard-issue plates.

MUSKEGON COUNTY - Richard Macaulay is a Harley-Davidson lover through and through.

The Muskegon man said he takes pride in his Harley-Davidson Dyna Wide Glide motorcycle, which he keeps in immaculate condition.



Macaulay said he was shocked to receive a letter from the Michigan Secretary of State’s office recently stating that his personalized license plate of seven years had been revoked.

The Secretary of State’s office informed the retired factory worker that a complaint from a Muskegon Heights woman had surfaced, claiming the personalized tag was racially insensitive.

The plate reads: DYNGR.

Tiffany Gilmore filed the complaint last month after seeing the motorcycle and plate in a Walmart parking lot. Gilmore, who is black, believes the plate encouraged racism toward blacks.

Macaulay says the plate, which was renewed every year without objection, was an ode to his love of the Harley-Davidson brand of motorcycles.

He says it’s an abbreviation that blends his two favorite Harleys: The Dyna Wide Glide and the Soft Tail Springer.

His brother-in-law thought it was an abbreviation for “danger.” But, he said, no one ever thought it was racially motivated. Until last month.

After he received the complaint letter, Macaulay said it took him several minutes to figure out what the fuss was about.

“I don’t think that way,” he said. “It took me awhile to figure it out.”

Upon hearing Macaulay’s explanation, as relayed to her by a Chronicle reporter, Gilmore said she still believes it’s racially motivated.

“When you look at the abbreviation and try to put it together, it doesn’t make sense,” she said. “I’m sorry, it just doesn’t.”

Still, she’s glad the state revoked the plate.

“I agree with the lady in one respect, and that is that I don’t know what it’s like to be picked on racially,” Macaulay said. “But she immediately took umbrage without accepting that it could mean something else.”

A story about the state pulling the license plate appeared in Thursday’s edition of The Muskegon Chronicle and generated nearly 100 comments from online readers by late afternoon.

Macaulay said he can’t believe the controversy his license plate has kicked off.

“There are so many other things going on, like the war,” he said. “People have nothing better to do than spend their lives being pissed off.”

Macaulay said he has applied for a new personalized license plate similar to the one that has been recalled. But it lacks the letter “N” so nobody gets confused.

Since his new plate has been approved, it’s considered a closed case, said Secretary of State spokeswoman Kelly Chesney.

“I would like to apologize to this lady for offending her, but that was not my intention,” Macaulay said of Gilmore. “People who know me know that I’m not a racist. But she didn’t really know what the plate meant.

“I didn’t ask for any of this, and I wish it would all just go away.”

Toddowen wrote:The obligatory link....


Scroll up six posts, genius.

Screw_Michigan wrote:So, is that some sort of in-bred, ass-backwards way of calling 'Bode?

Toddowen wrote:Bode!