Well.. I am not US citizen and that's why my view about that flag might be different than you US folks have, but I have always thought that the confederate flag represents rebellion against US, you know, against federal stuff, Washington and that sort of things.
If using flag from the times of civil war isn't sign of rebellion or rebellious attitude, then I don't know what it is. We have had our own civil war too and using some symbols etc. from that time is far from innocent. Though there isn't that much symbols associated with it (probably because lot of people were executed and anything politically resembling the lost side was banned/ destroyed), but anyways.
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