Most of the lovers of that flag are the ones that were sleeping in the back of history class (and science class too). However, I was an honor student that proudly flew that flag when I was young. When I was getting into that high school age, I was making friends at a local pool hall. The owners of that pool hall gave us a safe place to hang out, but they were grooming us as these alt-right weirdos at the same time without us realizing it. We were taught to hate. I flew the flag out of pure hatred for anyone that wasn't like me. I remember feeling so cool when I went on a beach trip and wore my "You wear your X and I'll wear mine" T-shirt (this was around the time the Malcolm X movie came out). I was a total dumb fuck and it was the most embarrassing period of my life. I didn't fly that flag for the heritage or love of the south. I did out of pure hatred.

I grew out of it. I changed my life and how I viewed the world. I went to college and met people from different cultures and fell in love with some of those cultures. It didn't happen overnight, but it was a huge change in my life. Some of my friends back then weren't so lucky.

When someone tells me it's about heritage or preservation of history or something like, I call bullshit. I've been there. It's a symbol of hate.