Nothing could be further from the truth. It first started as a battle flag during the Civil War. Then in 1948 the Dixiecrats reintroduced it as a symbol of their opposition to integration and the civil rights movement.
If it's being used now by people intending it to represent regional pride who are simply unaware of its history (which I find unlikely, but a lot of people are claiming that), then all it should take to convince them to take down their flags is to share that history with them.
The Confederates in the civil war were fighting to own black people as slaves.
As a symbol for part of the Confederate army, it's still racist even in its first use. Some of the people fighting might have been conscripted against their will, but the symbol itself is still one that promoted slavery of black people
If it's being used now by people intending it to represent regional pride who are simply unaware of its history (which I find unlikely, but a lot of people are claiming that), then all it should take to convince them to take down their flags is to share that history with them.