@oralloy,
The state legislatures, like many racists , blindly refuse to acknowledge that many people find it offensive. Instead, they use even more racist "phrases" to justify it.
"Its a symbol of our heritage". Actually its a symbol of their "heritage" of slave holding for the official 4+ years that the Confederacy was in existence.
ACtually the Star and Bars was adopted in 1861 and the flag flown over the memorial, "The Stainless Flg" was not dopted till 1863. SO the heritge issue is just a linguistic crutch