Hey I'm pure Yankee too. When I was growing up however many kids I knew adopted the confederate flag (wore it on hats, put it on their cars, etc.). To them it had nothing to do with racism but instead was a mere symbol of just being a "rebel" or being independent, etc. Nobody thought about it any deeper than that.
Brings back memories for me. In the rust belt 1983 - I was 19, drove a ‘72 chevelle with a rebel flag plate on the front. Lived in a racially-mixed area and had several black friends. Never thought of it as a racial thing but as a ‘question authority’ - ‘rebel’ type of thing.
As a teen, my daughter had one hung in her room. To her, it has something vaguely to do with Country Music and NASCAR. She didn't have a clue about the history of it till I explained it to her.
Exactly.
Exactly, it was a "rebe;" flag, nothng more