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Racist or Innocent Vanity Tag
Friday, December 11, 2009 at 2:12AM 
Richard Macaulay of Muskegon, Michigan is a Harley-Davidson lover. He takes pride in his Harley-Davidson Dyna Wide Glide motorcycle, which he keeps in immaculate condition. His other love is the Harley-Davidson Soft Tail Springer.
7 years ago he ordered vanity plates which combined the names of his two favorite bikes: DYNGR.
Macaulay said he was shocked to receive a letter from the Michigan Secretary of State’s office recently, stating that his personalized license plate of seven years had been revoked. The letter went on to say that a complaint had been received claiming the personalized tag was racially insensitive.
That complaint came from Tiffany Gilmore, who is black. According to Tiffany she was in the Walmart parking lot on Sherman Avenue when she came across a motorcycle with a personalized license plate that sent chills down her spine. She said the license plate included an abbreviation for a racial slur that encourages hatred toward blacks.
Gilmore, of Muskegon Heights, said that at the time she saw the license plate, she “went from awe to disbelief to sadness and then anger because I had my 11-year-old son with me and I had to explain it to him.”
She said she called the Secretary of State’s office in Lansing when she got home. After Gilmore spelled the license plate, the employee responded: “Excuse me? You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Kelly Chesney, a spokeswoman for the Secretary of State, said her agency conducts extensive screening of applications for personalized license plates. She said a committee reviews the proposed text to avoid offensive language and objectionable content.
The committee includes representatives from ethnic groups and students who know texting lingo. With the evolution of a texting generation that uses abbreviations for almost everything, a license plate with objectionable content occasionally slips through, Chesney said.
After an investigation of Gilmore’s complaint, the Secretary of State’s office decided to pull the license plate, Chesney said. She would not elaborate on whether state officials agreed that the plate was racially insensitive. The plate’s owner has been notified of the decision. The owner has the right to appeal, she said.
After he received the complaint letter, Macaulay said it took him several minutes to figure out what the fuss was about.
“I don’t think that way,” he said. “It took me awhile to figure it out.”
Macaulay's brother-in-law thought it was an abbreviation for “danger.” But, he said, no one ever thought it was racially motivated....Until last month.
“I agree with the lady in one respect, and that is that I don’t know what it’s like to be picked on racially,” Macaulay said. “But she immediately took umbrage without accepting that it could mean something else.”
Upon hearing Macaulay’s explanation Gilmore said she still believes it’s racially motivated.
“When you look at the abbreviation and try to put it together, it doesn’t make sense,” she said. “I’m sorry, it just doesn’t.”
Macaulay said he can’t believe the controversy his license plate has kicked off.
“There are so many other things going on, like the war,” he said. “People have nothing better to do than spend their lives being pissed off.”
Macaulay said he has applied for a new personalized license plate similar to the one that has been recalled. But it lacks the letter “N” so nobody gets confused.
“I would like to apologize to this lady for offending her, but that was not my intention,” Macaulay said of Gilmore. “People who know me know that I’m not a racist. But she didn’t really know what the plate meant. I didn’t ask for any of this, and I wish it would all just go away.”
