It’s absolutely true. The state of Kansas really will ticket motorists for displaying a perceived racist slur — on license plates the state itself sent out.
The state has officially recalled 828 plates with the letters “NGA” — which, although they are randomly assigned letters, can appear to be a condensed version of a loathsome racial slur.
We have no problem with the recall. The slur really is too repugnant to even approximate on a state license tag. County treasurer’s offices, which maintain vehicle registrations, have mailed recall notices, temporary tags and decals, and a postage-paid envelope to return the offending plate.
The problem is, if some owners don’t get the NGA tags off their vehicles and the new ones put on, they will be subject to a ticket for having an invalid license tag — essentially through little fault of their own. It was the state’s doing, after all.
That puts both the vehicle owner and police in a bind: As Overland Park Police Chief Frank Donchez notes, officers would have no choice but to ticket a vehicle with an invalid license plate, even if it’s the state’s fault.
“We will enforce the laws as the state requires,” Donchez told The Star.
The police are not to blame, but this doesn’t seem fair or just at all — that law-abiding citizens could be handed a citation for not cleaning up the state’s mess.
Yet, the Kansas Department of Revenue is resolutely not backing down a bit.
“The Kansas Department of Revenue feels that by sending the letters with everything included — return envelope, temporary tag, decal for the new plate, which also arrives by mail, and a receipt — it has performed this recall in the best manner it could,” a spokesperson wrote in an email to The Star.
It’s similar to a recall in 2018 of Kansas plates with the letters “JAP,” an unintended slur that needed no deciphering. And it’s a scenario that’s likely to be repeated as society becomes more conscious of being inclusive.
But this recall comes in the thick of not only the COVID-19 pandemic but a hectic and dizzying election season. While new license plates definitely stand out in the mail, they’ve had a lot of competition for attention from the blizzard of political fliers most of us have been snowed under with.
“Kansas has the right to invalidate the license plates it issued, but the burden is on the state to make the situation right,” Gary Biller, president and CEO of the grassroots National Motorists Association, said in a statement to The Star. “Threatening the vehicle owners with a violation for an issue not of their making is heavy-handed at the least. Why not invite the owners of the affected vehicles to stop by their local DMV office where officials will swap out the license plates and provide updated registrations? Little muss or fuss, and no threats of penalties from the party that bears responsibility for the recall.”
No such luck. So be warned: If you received that mailing, or have that now-infamous NGA tag on your vehicle, get it changed out, or risk getting ticketed.
The state will no doubt apologize and thank you for fixing its gaffe. Though we don’t recommend holding one’s breath.
— The Kansas City Star
