Florida has unveiled a new license plate featuring the Gadsden flag.
Gadsden took inspiration from pro-American imagery created by Benjamin Franklin, who was the first to use a rattlesnake to symbolize the 13 colonies.
The flag was intended to symbolize defiance of the British crown’s tyranny, and features a rattlesnake rising against a metaphorical treading boot.
A Wednesday hit piece from NPR sought to link the license plate and the Gadsden flag to “dangerous far-right extremist ideology.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis said a new Florida license plate featuring the Revolutionary War-era Gadsden flag sends a "clear message to out-of-state cars." Critics say it symbolizes a dangerous far-right extremist ideology.https://t.co/7rU6zTwj9p
— NPR (@NPR) August 11, 2022
“The state can’t claim a lack of knowledge about what this image represents to most of the public,” said a representative of the Southern Poverty Law Center quoted by NPR.
The SPLC representative linked the flag to the Jan. 6, 2021, disturbance at the U.S. Capitol. The flag has been used for decades by libertarians and other critics of government overreach — far before the Capitol incursion.
Six states already offered Gadsden flag-themed license plates in 2014, according to The Washington Post.
The license plate’s rollout received a negative reception from DeSantis’ partisan critics, who object to the revolutionary flag.
