Cedar,
To me, the rebel flag is not about slavery. I know that Southerners today are friendly people who certainly do not support slavery and are not proud of that aspect of their history. I can also understand regional pride. What I don't understand is why Southerners would use a symbol of colossal treason against the USA to represent themselves.
I guess I could go through my explanation again of why Southerners use the symbol. But I'll just refer you back to my previous post for another reading of it.
As I said, Southerners understand it. Since you are not from the South, you will probably never understand it.
I guess the best thing for you to do is try to be at peace with it.