So I’m from North Carolina, but I a bit of an outsider considering I dislike southern culture save for the food. (You haven’t lived until you’ve had real cornbread.) So I may not have the best perspective in this discussion. 

Firstly, why are we even talking about this? A young man decided that he’d do something very terrible to a minority group, and he just so happened to have a picture of himself with a flag that had roots in undermining said group. Even if the movement that used it for hate died off long ago (There are still movements that use it for hate purposes though), there is now fuel in the fire and it makes this flag a very heated topic. While the state doesn’t use it for hate purposes, it still has recent use colluding with individuals that spread hate, and it’d be stupid for them and anyone claiming “Southern Pride” to instantly deny that and wave the “Stars and bars” or whatever it’s called around like Charleston and centuries of oppression never happened. Go ahead and wear the flag if you must, but please don’t forget the negativity it holds. Because while it represents every proud southerner, it also represents every African man and woman that died under it. If anything, the black community deserves their time to air their grievances, no matter what transpires in the future.