New Florida driver’s license includes pro-slavery motto

A new driver’s license design introduced by the state last week was denounced by state Rep. RaShon Young, D-Orlando, as “tone-deaf” for its use of an historic motto. The redesign, which in part is to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary, features images of the state seal, Castillo de San Marcos, the Space Shuttle Discovery, a Florida manatee, an alligator in the REAL ID star, an orange in the “O” of Florida, and the motto “Let Us Alone.” The motto was first associated with Florida as part of an unofficial flag unfurled when the territory entered the union as a slave state in 1845. Words do not exist outside of history, Young said. For enslaved people, demands for government noninterference meant leaving intact a system that denied their humanity and exploited their labor. Placing this phrase on credentials Black Floridians must carry is a slap in the face to communities whose ancestors endured that injustice. When included in the first proposed flag, several northern new