Confederate flag supporters describe how their views changed
By MEG KINNARD
Associated Press
Published: July 13, 2016
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Like many other white southerners, Justin Hough used to consider the Confederate flag part of his regional heritage, not a symbol of hate. That changed when a white man who posed with the flag was charged with killing nine black churchgoers last year ...
"It's a tarnished, tattered image of the South," Hough told The Associated Press, and southerners who don't acknowledge this either don't understand the impact, or are "just lying about what it says to other people" ...
Hough now lives in North Carolina, where he expanded on the feelings he expressed last year, now that reactions to police killings threaten to provoke even more violence.
In his letter, Hough said he was a graduate of The Citadel military academy who once loved "the Confederate flag, singing Dixie and defending our right to say the N-word" ...
http://www.stripes.com/news/us/confederate-flag-supporters-describe-how-their-views-changed-1.418925
