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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Ceudy Gutierrez reads a book to her 2-year-old son, Matias, at their home in Buford, GA, on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. Ceudy Gutierrez is struggling to make ends meet for herself and her three young kids following her husband’s ICE arrest earlier this fall. (Miguel Martinez/ AJC)

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez