I live in Georgia and have high school aged kids. A while back Dixie Outfitters was the big rage. They had Rebel Flags on their clothing and I don’t recall anyone making a stink about it.
Just this weekend a bunch of the boys were at my house, some of them were black. Yet they did not seem to mind one bit to ride around in two trucks that had Rebel Flags displayed on them. One of the trucks had the flag on a pole in the back.
I’m not being insensative to the meaning of the flag but with the array of kids that hang out at my house, I never see all these silly racial issues come up. They nickname eachother with regard to race and make comments to eachother and yet they’ve all been friends since grade school.
You make some great observations. The issue is "the meaning" of the flag. I grew up in upstate New York. In Yankee-land numerous kids also wore and displayed the confederate battle flag... But what meaning did it have? It certainly didn't have anything to do with racism. It also didn't have anything to do with Southern heritage... in upstate NY. What "the meaning" of the flag meant to these upstate NY teenagers was BEING A REBEL. All teenagers rebel and the meaning of the flag for these kids was rebellion. The "Don't Tread on Me" flag as well as the Revolutionary War flag with it's circular 13 stars was also popular. The more the Confederate flag is demonized as having only one meaning, the more it will become the symbol of many meanings.
Rebel Flags are a sign of the south. I’m a northern girl but love everything about the south and dream of spending my retirement years there. I was amazed at the difficult time I had finding a decent size flag when I was recently visiting. I dont see it as racist and would fly it with pride.