Let's leave aside Nazism, KKK, and those issues and talk about the rebel flag for a moment. I'm not a southerner. But that flag represents being a "rebel".
The Battle Flag of the Army of Northern VirginiaNo, that "rebel flag" is not really a rebel flag representing Confederate Nationalism. In it's rectangular form, it was seen as symbol of the Southern United States and heritage but also a reminder of racism and violence and the KKK. Some southerners see the flag as representing Southern pride rather than racism. But those would be white southerners, not black. Black southerners see it as a symbol of racism.
In a
CNN/ORC 2015 poll (not long after the nine African-American churchgoers were killed by a white man who said he was trying to start a race war in a Charleston church) "most" Americans (57%) see the flag more as a symbol of Southern pride than as a symbol of racism, about the same as in 2000 when 59% said they viewed it as a symbol of pride. Opinions of the flag are sharply divided by race, and among whites, views are split by education.
Among African-Americans, 72% see the Confederate flag as a symbol of racism, just 25% of whites agree. In the South, the racial divide is even broader. While 75% of Southern whites describe the flag as a symbol of pride and 18% call it a symbol of racism, those figures are almost exactly reversed among Southern African-Americans, with just 11% seeing it as a sign of pride and 75% viewing it as a symbol of racism.
Among whites, there's a sharp divide by education, and those with more formal education are less apt to see the flag as a symbol of pride. Among whites with a college degree, 51% say it's a symbol of pride, 41% one of racism. Among those whites who do not have a college degree, 73% say it's a sign of Southern pride, 18% racism.
A more rectangular variant of the Army of Northern Virginia battle flag, was used during the war by the Army of Tennessee. But the problem is that since the South is making the effort to remove the flag in many official and public uses, the flag has been coopted by by a variety of movements such as neo nazis, neo confederates (or "Southern Nationalist") which are right wing anti-federalists and libertarians and now the radical Alt Right movement. These groups are protesting the removal os the flag and other monuments that harken back to periods where slavery was legal and the root cause of the civil war.
So, no...waving a Confederate "Rebel Flag" is not something that can be isolated as a representation of being a rebel or being free. Waving a Confederate "Rebel Flag" by a bunch of white guys armed with sticks and clubs and wearing helmets and body armor is not a question of "free speech" protected by the 1st Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.See that phrase: "the right of the people peaceably to assemble"?
"Militia members" carrying rifles at the rally to protect the Unite the Right rally. Note, these are not COPs, they are alt right militia members. That means you prolly shouldn't be armed with weapons and wearing body armor and a helmet if you are intending to peaceably assemble. The white supremacists, KKK, neo confederates, radical Alt Right, antisemitic racists are free to spout their drek but they are not free to threaten citizens and disturb the peace.
I have no idea who started the "fight" but when you have a white supremacist
Unite the Right rally organized by Jason Kessler (who was chased away by protesters during a
press conference in Charlottesville), you better figure it ain't a 1st amendment issue, it's public safety issue.
