When I was a kid, I was fortunate enough to go on several long cross-country trips with my family. From Connecicut to California and back, up the spine of the continent from Arizona to Montana, and even to Alaska!
Now this was in the days before Ipods and portable DVD players. Probably you had an AM radio in the car. And no air-conditioning. One of the things that we did to pass the time (when we weren't squabbling and picking on one another in the back seat) was to "collect" plates. We had a pad of paper, and added to the list each time we saw a new one. It was very exciting, because as you got into a new state, the plates changed -- in color and style of numbers. Some had state slogans ("Live Free or Die") or even pictures (a rider on a bucking bronco in Wyoming, for example. There's a lot more of that now).
If only Ohio had been doing back then what they're doing now. If you've been convicted of drunk driving, you get a special license plate (yellow, with red letters). And they're proposing a new one -- bright flourescent green for convicted violent sex offenders and child predators.
Originally they were going to be pink (but Mary Kay Cosmetics, among others, put the kibosh on that).
Can't think of why they wanted to choose pink in the first place. . . unless they were falling back and false and hurful sterotyping!
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4 comments:
Reminds me of the Scarlet Letter
...
except worse.
Labeling sex offenders with the color pink was what the Nazis used to do to homosexuals in concentration camps ( more specifically, they made them wear pink triangle badges...)
I think the license plate label is going too far with sex offenders. Let me be clear: I am not defending what they are accused of. Nevertheless, It makes them a target for vigilante violence.
D.U.I drivers-I'm not quite sure. I think if somebody were a serial offender, (three or more times with other punishments) then they deserve it, because they are directly putting others on the road in danger.
I'm seeing some violations of the Bill of Rights here too...
I don't think the license plate label is outrageous to ask for. I can understand why it'd be useful. These days there's so much deception concerning people you meet - people who obviously don't want you to know their secrets or offenses. But what if this person is a neighbor who offers to watch your children while you make an emergency run somewhere? Would you really want them with a sex offender??? Furthermore - how would you feel if you only found out after months (maybe years) of knowing this said person that a sex offense is part of their life.
At the same time, I do understand everyone has a right to privacy. Labeling a car for D.U.I. is much different than a sex offender label. (a) a D.U.I. pertains to the road (I'd want to know if the person swerving in front of me has a problem with this or not) and (b) families (as the point was made in the article) could definitely be accused of the crime when it is not, in fact, their crime.
As for the color of the license plate - ridiculous. It's enough to put a simple symbol on the plate, you don't need to scream it out for the whole world to see just to pour a bucket of salt on the wound. I think it would be more logical to place a symbol or statement on the person's actual driver's license.
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