This March 2 file photo shows school bus driver Ken Webber, 28, at his home in Medford, Ore. A school bus company being sued by Webber, who was fired for refusing to take a Confederate battle flag emblazoned with the word “Redneck” off his pickup truck while parked on school property, has asked a judge to dismiss the case, arguing the flag does not amount to free speech protected by the U.S. Constitution. First Student Inc. filed the motion for summary judgment Monday in U.S. District Court in Medford. The company says Ken Webber, who drove a bus carrying students in the Phoenix-Talent School District, considered the flag an expression of his identity and lifestyle, not his feelings on politics, race or racism. (AP Photo/The Medford Mail Tribune, Bob Pennell, File)

Question: Do you know any bonafide rednecks?

Kootenai Conservative: All my relatives on my father’s side are from the South, and they would tell you it would be a grave mistake to interpret a display of the Confederate flag as a gesture of racism or sympathy with slavery. It’s a symbol of Southern pride that those of us from the North or West can have trouble understanding because there’s nothing analogous to it in our own regional cultures. A lot of people in Texas fly Texas flags for the same reason.

Question: Do you consider the display of a confederate flag to be a racist statement?