Anyone irritated by the vehement criticism of this redesign of the state flag must be, in jargon, “outsiders”.
Because locals have been fighting for the state flag of South Carolina for a century.
And although it is a fun and rather frivolous distraction for the debate, now is not the time for the state to be attached to the symbolic at the expense of the noun.
We have bigger problems.
Now everyone knows that South Carolina has the most beautiful state flag in the country. That is not in debate.
The tourism industry in particular loves the flag because, to many laypeople, it looks like an idyllic summer night. It’s the banner that launched a million beach holidays – the vexilological version of a Florida state flag announcing the sun, a pack of six Bud and Mickey Mouse beers.
But despite appearances, the flag of our state is not just a beautiful image; in fact, it is a combination of several clever and slightly obscure references to the state’s colonial military history.
That’s why we used to fight. People wanted to discuss whether that thing in the upper corner was the moon or a canyon. Spoiler: It’s not the moon.
The problem is that there has been no standard design for the flag for generations – and this has fueled these differences. Thus, at the request of the Legislature, a group of prominent South Carolina historians proposed a standard and historically accurate model for the flag. And, as Avery Wilks reports, everyone hates it.
They complained about the color, the orientation of the crescent. But mostly, the problem is the flag palm – which looks like a group of “arborists” at Dominion Energy has caught it.
This is not the fault of our historians. They based the tree – the dominant image of the flag – on a 1910 sketch by Charleston artist Ellen Heyward Jervey. It is an infinitely more attractive and subtle design than the preliminary design suggests.
But, message received: back to the drawing board.
Unfortunately, first impressions last, and some lawmakers are already defending the honor of the design of our current flag, however amorphous it may be. So, no matter what our well-informed and well-intentioned historians return, another struggle is brewing.
Which is exactly what we don’t need. Lawmakers have already proposed banning the Confederation flag from the special tags of the Sons of Veterans of the Confederation and have threatened to remove from office any local official who voted to tear down historic monuments. And, of course, they also promise to spoil this session again with ridiculous proposals related to firearms and abortion – those old chestnuts.
Some lawmakers, while certainly not the most sober, generally like these “value” struggles because they incite voters and – bonuses – cost no real money. And these debates distract some people from the fact that they are not dealing with significantly more difficult, urgent and expensive problems.
Such as equitable school funding or, more importantly this year, vaccinating people against the virus so that we can control the pandemic. South Carolina’s COVID-19 tests have returned 33% positive. Same? Are these people trying kill grandma?
Sure, the legislature can do a lot of things, but lawmakers need fewer distractions this year, not more. So, in order to ensure that 2021 is better than our most recent displeasure, we will end our regularly scheduled struggle for symbols.
Lawmakers should abandon the idea of ousting properly elected officials (a feat no doubt inspired by our John C. Calhoun disorder) because they already have a very tough law protecting our sanctified Confederate monuments.
And if they want to remove the Confederation flag from the special signs, give SCV the guy “Fergit, INFERNO” for a new logo and move on.
But don’t waste too much time fighting for the design of the state flag. In fact, this whole debate needs to be scheduled for a year. Give historians more time. The flag has existed since 1861, it will last another year. Focus on urgent matters at once … and do so using masks.
Otherwise, the only flag that lawmakers will raise at the Statehouse this year is the flag of surrender. And there is no way to debate the color of that flag.