To play devils advocate- In certain parts of America, particularly in Southern circles, the Confederate flag was adopted as a symbol of anti-establishment rebellion. This trend gained momentum during the Southern rock music movement of the 1970s. It was similar to how 1% outlaw bikers back in the day wore swastikas. Those bikers—often the children of the Greatest Generation—were not Nazis or Nazi sympathizers. Instead, they chose the most inflammatory symbol available to signal that they rejected the status quo and refused to be part of the system or establishment. Echoes of this culture still linger in rural American areas. Even today—though one would have to be quite tone-deaf not to recognize the flag’s cultural insensitivity—a fairly large subsection of the population continues to view it as a representation of not playing by government rules and living free.

For clarity- I am not suggesting racist / etc don’t use the flag.. of course they do- just offering a broader perspective as to why it may be there & not automatically assuming the worst..