system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: The Rebel Flag

As a young, 20 year old African American man, it's easier for me to accept gray areas as compared to my parents and grandparents. I'm growing in the golden age for progression, so my view on the world is different. But one thing that never sways is how I feel when I see somebody uplifting the rebel flag, celebrating it with claims such as "Southern Pride." I hail from Richmond, Virginia, the former capital of the Confederacy, which already sums up how much of this pride I've run into. Whether it's been on my high school football team going against the Lee Davis Confederates, seeing 'Grave Digger-esque' trucks with the flags waving from them, walking or riding through neighborhoods getting blank stares and hostile scowls signifying the fact that I don't belong. Hell even in the architecture through statues and memorials, I see the glorification of a nation that not only betrayed their brothers, but betrayed them to fight for their "right" to own other human beings, that they inhumanely deemed lesser just because of darker skin. A nation fueled and driven by hatred. I feel like the flag is a symbol of a nation that openly oppressed an entire race, and trying to pick and choose what the flag represents is disrespectful in my opinion. It seems like people are trying to justify the flag and their stance behind it by saying it's not about racism or slavery, when in my eyes it 100% is.
gpt
There are a few different way to view the rebel flag. To one of your points, one could argue the American flag or almost any other western flag represents a nation that has subjugated minorities. America has a history of slavery on both sides. It was only until the north separated itself from an agricultural economy that it felt it was ready to end the practice of slavery.

The actual rebel flag was never the flag of the confederacy. It was the battle flag of northern Virginia. It's worth noting that nobody is alive who remembers the flag in that context. A lot of the people who still fly the rebel flag remember it in a different context. To them, it was the flag on top of the Dodge Charger in the Dukes of Hazzard, the show they used to watch as a kid. It's the flag on t-shirts they saw at their first Lynyrd Skynyrd concert. To them, it never signified slave owners or anything racist. Yes, they are ignorant to history, but to them it really does mean something different. It can also be used as a rallying symbol for hate groups, and there's obviously no excusing that, but it's not true for everyone. For a lot of people, it's childhood and teenage memories.