I have lived in the South my entire life. Here in my neck of the woods, the Confederate Battle Flag (the flag that does NOT have the large white bars around the edges to denote white supremacy) is a symbol of heritage. When a young boy gets his first truck (or car) its common place for them to fly that flag on the truck, especially if the truck is lifted or decked out. Its normal to see the flag flying in peoples yards - both black and white. The Confederate Flag (that does have the large white bars around the outer edge like the one taken down in SC) is a flag I have never seen flown, though maybe I just haven't noticed it.
People need to learn their flags and their history before they go on some social justice crusade spewing misinformation. There were several different flags made for and during the civil war.
Further more, for those saying that flag represents slavery let me fill you in on some history, history I might add, you can easily verify for yourselves.
The North fought to free the slaves in the Southern states, NOT the Northern states. Many Northern states still had slaves after the civil war.
The state of Delaware fought to keep slavery until 1908.
Robert E. Lee, who commanded the Confederate Army, never bought slaves. He inherited some but freed them voluntarily BEFORE the Civil War ever happened.
Ulysses S. Grant, your Northern Commander who was fighting to "free the slaves" actually owned slaves until after the Civil War was over.
Abraham Lincoln, your beloved President who emancipated the slaves, freed them to send them to a remote island as he said blacks and whites couldn't co-exist. He actually deported about 500 slaves to the Caribbean Islands where they fell ill and many died to sickness while others starved to death. Just over 70 remained alive and had to be rescued. The only reason there weren't more than 500 sent was because of a lack of funding for the project.
Your Northern heroes didn't give a crap about freeing slaves. It was political and nothing more. So before you preach to us about being traitors, read up on your history to see what really happened. Just because Mary Sue North says it on facebook, doesn't make it so. Before you knock us for a flag that was never even carried into battle during the civil war (The Confederate Flag was carried to battle, the Confederate Battle flag {also known as the Rebel Flag} was not) why not take a look at your own flag, the American Flag, and remind yourself of the slavery it stood for. The Northern Generals, under the American Flag, owned slaves far longer than the South did.
But no one cries about that.
Education is a powerful thing.