One hundred fifty years after their fathers lost the Civil War, the Sons of Confederate Veterans are celebrating the sales of their commemorative license plate, which has not one but two images of the Confederate battle emblem.

Who benefits?

The Sons, of course. They get publicity, like this, disproportionate to their tiny numbers in the state. They also get $10 a plate.

Northerners, too. They love it when we do things like this because it feeds their suspicion that, even now, people in the South are backward.

We also get to recall an event that burned our city and wiped out a generation of young men on both sides.

But it is a handsome plate.

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Angie McBrayer, ex-wife of James Aaron McBrayer, leans her head on her son Sam McBrayer as she and her three children and two grandchildren (from left) Jackson McBrayer, 3, Piper Jae McBrayer, 7, Katy Isaza, and Jordan McBrayer, visit the grave of James McBrayer, Thursday, November 20, 2025, in Tifton. He died after being restrained by Tift County sheriff's deputies on April 24, 2019. His ex-wife witnessed the arrest and said she thought the deputies were being rough but did not imagine that McBrayer would die. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC