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The outrage over the Stars and Bars is totally contrived. Jesse Jackson made it an issue in the 1980s.

When I was a kid in NY in the 1960s it was all over...as we were in Civil War Centennial mode. No one regarded it as a symbol of racism.

Sure, Georgia and Mississippi had it inserted into their state flags as a measure of defiance against federal efforts of desegragation, but still the banner was viewed as relatively benign.

Witness its use in thr late 70s/early 80s on the roof of the General Lee in the "Dukes of Hazard." No one was complaining then.

As for Malcolm X: good point. That racist is even on a US postage stamp. :-(

And the Confederate flag is a very poor symbol of Southern heritage. The Confedracy was a movement of a relatively small group of politicians and not a true popular revolution .......Colonel Kangaroo

The outrage over the Stars and Bars is totally contrived .......carrier-aviator

Why, in Germany today, is it a crime for Swastika to be displayed anywhere in public while the Iron Cross is still proudly used on German military aircraft and armor?

It is because the Swastika was the political symbol of Nazi Germany but the Iron Cross was the symbol of the valor of the German soldier.

If there is a gripe against the politicians of the Confederate States of America, then that gripe should be directed at the original political flag of the Confederacy, the "Stars and Bars", which is this flag:

The symbol of the valor of the Confederate soldier was the Confederate Battle Flag which was this flag:

If there is a symbol of the valor of the Southern common man who did his duty as he saw it to defend his homeland, that symbol is the Confederate Battle Flag.

It would be nice to get the Confederate Battle Flag out of the hands of political demagogues on both sides and restore it as the honored symbol of the Southern soldier.

However, the historical ignorance and/or hypocrisy is so great today that this "racist" Georgia flag:

was replaced by this "Politically Correct" flag:

So, the "racist" symbol of the Confederate common soldier was replaced by the "non-racist" symbol of the Confederate politician.

Go figure.