Back in the 70s and 80s the Confederate Flag just meant, at least to us Northern Kids, “the South” or “Rebel”: Dukes of Hazzard, Skynyrd, even Tom Petty all sported the flag in a harmless, non racial, sense.
I respect the viewpoint of people that still feel it means that.
Still, sometimes symbols get co-opted to the point where the general meaning has been corrupted and the “negative” connotation is too widely accepted for it to be worthwhile to keep arguing about the original, benign, meaning.
(See, for example, the Roman salute and the Swastika).
I’ve thought the Confederate flag might be at that point for a while now.
As the government started sticking its nose into our tents and lives the use of the Confederate Battle Flag was simply used as a popularized emblem of defiance and protest. To many that display it that was never considered to be because one supported racism although some displaying it do. But those that do so also probably would deny supporting slavery of people of any form including people with black skin.
Use of it as a choice symbol of protest though, runs the risk of a viewer comming to that conclusion. But it should be pointed out that blacks also fought and died on the side of the Confederacy . In the view of the southerners while that greatest loss of life was a result of that conflict. It was not just about the abolition of slavery as it is currently being poltically correctly explained and used. And any move to ban its use should be considered a violation of the Constitutional free speech amendment.