Call me ignorant, but since I grew up in the Northeast, moved to Colorado, and currently reside in the Northwest, I don't know much about the confederate flag. I think I saw it on Dukes of Hazzard, I've heard it called the Rebel Flag, and frankly, before I knew any of the baggage surrounding it, I thought it was kind of cool-looking.
Now, I understand, post-explanation, how it can be seen as a racist symbol. To put it plainly, it's the symbol of a region that warred to support slavery.
But honestly, I know that's also a completey simplistic statement. They warred for lots of other reasons too. And the flag being a symbol of a region that did those things is kind of an example of correlation, not causation. You could argue that the flag is tainted by its association to a region that was associated with slavery in the past, but... that's not really the same thing as the flag Being A Symbol Of Slavery, is it?
But here is where it intersects with the big void that represents what I don't know about the subject. Has the confederate flag, since the Civil War, been actively used as a racist symbol? Like is it mostly used for hate crimes, or was it adopted by the Klan, is it pretty much put away when not being used for racist rallies?
When I hear a lot of noise about the confederate flag being a racist symbol, I certainly suppose it could be true, but I admit that to me I usually hear it as a politically correct tone. And political correctness... let's call it what it is. It robs words and symbols of context, it makes intent irrelevant, it focuses on form of expression rather than emotional essence.
Is there honestly room to see the confederate flag as a symbol of states rights, of southern pride, or of the rebel spirit, or of a beaten down spirit returning from the battlefield? If someone wants to use the flag to express those ideals, is it true that they are always being racially insensitive? Is it impossible for a southern black person to like the confederate flag? How unrealistic is it to think that the confederate flag is only a symbol of the intent of the person waving it?