State Rep. RaShon Young says Florida should not have put “Let Us Alone” on its new driver licenses. The Florida Senate objected to the phrase in 1845, and the flag that carried it never became official.

The Orlando Democrat called the redesigned license and ID card “tone-deaf” in a statement and asked the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to reconsider the phrase and consult historians and representatives of Florida’s diverse communities.

“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.”

FLHSMV began issuing the new cards Wednesday, a day after Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the redesign at a Cabinet meeting. The front puts Castillo de San Marcos behind the cardholder’s information, an orange in the “O” of “Florida,” a manatee in the lower left corner, and an alligator inside the REAL ID star at the upper right. The back carries Space Shuttle Discovery and the motto.

The agency’s announcement describes “Let Us Alone” as a motto from Florida’s first unofficial state flag, presented to Gov. William D. Moseley at his inauguration. It does not say why the phrase was chosen.

Florida entered the Union on March 3, 1845, as a slave state. Its 1838 Constitution declared that “the General Assembly shall have no power to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves.” Moseley, a Jefferson County planter, was sworn in as the state’s first Governor that June, and the flag bearing “Let Us Alone” was unfurled at his inauguration. The Legislature never formally adopted it. The Senate objected to the motto, according to the Florida Historical Society.

The phrase resurfaced in Tallahassee in December 2021, when DeSantis proposed reviving the Florida State Guard. The unit’s logo at that announcement showed an alligator with its jaws open and the words “Let us alone,” Florida Phoenix’s Michael Moline reported at the time, and then-Press Secretary Christina Pushaw traced it to the 1845 flag.

Young tied the credential to the country’s 250th anniversary.

“We cannot celebrate ‘We the People’ while overlooking the people denied its protection,” Young said. “Florida proclaims its greatness, but greatness requires the courage to acknowledge our history and the judgment to avoid romanticizing its darkest chapters.”

Young won House District 40 in a September 2025 Special Election after serving as Chief of Staff to LaVon Bracy Davis, who moved to the Senate the same night. The two filed legislation ahead of the 2026 Session to compensate the families of the Groveland Four.

Young also urged Floridians to vote.

“This is why representation matters. This is why voting matters,” Young said. “Someone at the table should have asked what this phrase would mean to the people required to carry it. Make your voice heard. Show up. Vote. Our history deserves honesty, and our future deserves better.”

Floridians with a valid license or ID card can keep it until it expires.

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Ed. note: This story was drafted with assistance from AI. Editorial judgment, sourcing, and final review were performed by Peter Schorsch and the Florida Politics editorial team.