Racist Flags

I have to admit i was pretty ignorant of the Confederate Flag and what it stood for, to me it was the flag on top of the General Lee in the Dukes of Hazard but turns out it was the southern states flag when they fought to uphold things such as racism and slavery.
For me, offence is in the eye of the offended so if someone says something offends them, it offends them whether it is a name, flag or work of art.
If you continue to use that thing, in this case the Confederate Flag, being fully aware that it is offensive to large swathes of people, then that just makes you a spiteful and nasty individual.
Equally nasty but more idiotic are the people who claim that something isn't offensive even when the offended are shouting loud and clear that it is.
As the flag clearly aggrieves many, then it should be removed and a source of shame that it hasn't been taken down a long time ago and some moonshine addled redneck re-living the Civil War who still stands by the values of enslaving black people shouldn't be enough to stand in the way in a country that clearly has a race problem ticking not far from the surface.