Question for the non-northerners on here: How did the Confederate flag last this long as an icon? Isn't flying it a bit like flying a swastika? Isn't it a voice of support for a pro-slavery armed rebellion?
I mean, it's really irrelevant to the shooting, but I have to ask.
Transplant here, but lived long enough in the South to understand this. There are multiple reasons. First, Americans fought and died in the Confederate Army, so in that sense compare this to Russians who display the Soviet flag in commemorations of WW2, even if they aren't actually wanting to go back to Communism. That's not as far back in time, but historical memorializing doesn't always depend on chronology. From the late 19th century up until the Civil Rights Era, the Civil War tended to be thought of both in the North and in the South as a war between brothers, not as loyalists vs traitors. That view has continued in the South. The flag has become a symbol of a region with a strong identity, without an explicit focus on the historical event. And then there is the uglier side of its use as a way of supporting segregationist politics while simultaneously telling the Yankees to get out and mind their own business.
Indeed, the use of the AoNVa flag to represent Confederate soldiers predates the Civil Rights era, but as an emblem of the South, it was appropriated by Southern racists during that era. It's a combination of its use by non-Southern racists and the availability of non-tainted symbols of Southern distinctiveness, such as country music and NASCAR that have caused its perception to shift, probably irretrievably.
