VOICES: Scarlet Letter licenses? Give me one, too.

By Jeff Shaw, N.C. Policy Watch

Dear Mr. Tata,

Please consider this letter my application for a driver's license.

Yes, I already have a North Carolina driver's license. But if current policy remains unchanged, I will feel wrong about using it, and I will want a different kind of license.

The Department of Motor Vehicles was advised earlier this year that it was legally obligated to provide driver’s licenses for undocumented youth. These immigrant youth, eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, were brought here as children and as a result lack official legal status. While federal officials work on a long-overdue fix to our broken immigration system, it makes sense to follow the law and promote safety on our state’s roads by permitting these young people to apply for licenses.

Thankfully, the DMV chose to do so, and I'm grateful for this.

What I'm not grateful for is the inexplicable decision to issue a different driver's license -- one that seems intended to shame and stigmatize immigrant youth.

On March 25, DMV will beginning issuing licenses with a high-profile pink banner and bright red letters that say "NO LAWFUL STATUS" and "LIMITED TERM."

Let's be honest. There's no legal or practical reason to do this. This move is merely intended to affix a virtual scarlet letter to young people who just want to do the right thing and be a part of the system. They need licenses for the same reason we all do: to go to school, to go to work, to get groceries, to help family members.

And for these simple human needs, we're going to force them to take a document that smacks of discrimination? This isn't right, and it isn't just, and it isn't necessary.

But if DMV insists on issuing these petty, divisive licenses later this month, I can think of only one way to take the discriminatory sting out. That's if a large number of other North Carolinians demand they be issued the pink licenses as well.

This is my formal application for my DACA license. If you're going to give them to my friends, my neighbors, the people I know and trust in my community, you're going to have to give one to me, too.

I'm not going to pretend that this isn't a political statement. It is. But the request for a different license is quite literal and sincere. If driver's licenses are being used to shame and stigmatize my friends and neighbors, how can I feel good about carrying one around in my wallet?

To be clear, I'd prefer not to have to ask for this. I'd prefer for our state agencies to follow legal guidance to issue driver's licenses without spite. I'd prefer those state agencies, which are intended to serve all of us, to treat all of us with equal respect.

If that's not going to happen from the top, though, it has to happen from bottom. Maybe all of us demanding to have our own pink licenses is the way to go.

So, when should I expect mine?