That's how you get them.
When a symbol becomes known for racial hatred, it was selected for that purpose, but for it to gain the intended meaning, it must be earned.
Once upon a time, a bedsheet used to just be a bedsheet.
Sales of rainbow pins to Evangelicals are way down in recent decades, for example.
Which is how you can tell the hat was always meant for hate
Adopted for hate
Used for hate
MANUFACTURED for hate
About the leader who created the symbol, and the meaning he deliberately created.
About the political party selling it, and who they sold it to, and how they sold it, and why.