I'm curious, how many of the responders here actually grew up in the South? Flash is the only one who's acknowledged living there (other than everyone's time in flight school).
I did grow up in the south, in the "sticks" of eastern Tennessee. I lived on a dirt road in a four room house, a barrel of rainwater outside to flush the toilet, and no phone till I was about 12. I started working in a tobacco field when I was 6. I am the epitome of a dirt-poor white trash redneck.
Down the road from me was a black family whose kids I played in the woods with and would go fishing with. I hate fishing by the way, but it was something to do and someone to spend time with. They were just as poor, and they gave no shits about me being white nor I about them being black.
I went to school and played sports with black kids while growing up.
The Confederate flag flew quite a bit where I grew up. It wasn't a symbol of racism, the people I grew up around were a mix of white and black and we all had to work hard to put food on the table. Where I grew up, the Confederate flag was a symbol of a people who had to work hard to get by in life. It represented the legacy of hard living in the mountains of Tennessee, where food on the table was scarce and a warm bed to sleep in wasn't always guaranteed.
What's my point? It's this. Symbols mean different things to different people. Some people will be offended by things that others aren't offended by. I'm not a racist yet an image of the Confederate flag makes me think of home and appreciate how I grew up. People will probably get all butthurt about me saying a Confederate flag reminds me of home, but it's true, and it's not because it makes me think of racism.
Bottom line, appeasing everyone in life only ends up with everyone being angry at the outcome. People can disagree and still move forward in life.
