Whether you are associated with them or not the fact is that many southerners displayed the confederate flag as a racist symbol. You didn't see the stars and bars flown at civil rights parades you saw it waved by those seeking to intimidate those working on behalf of civil rights.
Those seeking to exploit this flag for such use, are a vast minority. Besides, the flag was never intended to represent these people, they usurped it to symbolize white supremacy... Let's take an Army that has lost a war...say... the French... Now, if someone were using the French Naval flag as a symbol of racial protest, would you demand that French veterans of the Navy abandon any usage of it, because it offends people?
Regardless of your interpretation of it American society sees the flag as synonomous with the anti-civl rights movement. Maybe that isn't fair for you but it still remains offensive.
As I said, it's being offended by ignorance. And, since when did we obtain the enumerated right to not be offended in this country? The flag might be used to represent other things, but that is not what it represented originally, and people who tend to forget that, are often stereotypical jerks, who assume it denotes "racism" just like they assume "Dixie" from "Alabama" just has to be a racist.
I have kin who spilled blood under that flag, and they were just as American as you and I. Regardless of what your personal perception of that flag is, it represents the men who made the ultimate sacrifice in our country's most horrific moment. You know, I can't think of anyone I hate enough, not to allow them to honor their war dead.
