>What a symbol represents is not determined solely (or even primarily) by the intent of the person displaying it.
This works equally in the other direction. The reason a symbol was originally created is not the final word on what it means today to large groups of people. For many people that flag means "the American South is a distinctive culture." I don't really care about the flag at all but I have seen people using it in various ways for years without any sort of racist intent and it's pretty crap to just write them off as racists or that they should have retroactively "known better" after this sudden, dramatic social pivot.
This works equally in the other direction. The reason a symbol was originally created is not the final word on what it means today to large groups of people. For many people that flag means "the American South is a distinctive culture." I don't really care about the flag at all but I have seen people using it in various ways for years without any sort of racist intent and it's pretty crap to just write them off as racists or that they should have retroactively "known better" after this sudden, dramatic social pivot.