South Carolina residents are very proud of the state’s iconic indigo blue flag, with its narrow half moon and lush palm tree.
So, when a commission of historians was tasked with adjusting their design, state residents were quick to respond – mess with the flag and you mess up we.
Beaten by the public, a newly proposed state flag was scrapped, the Post and Courier reported this week.
The South Carolina State Flag Study Committee was created in 2018 to standardize the state flag – and met only five times before proposing the new one, influenced by the state’s history.
Southern Carolinians have not had an official flag since 1940, when the state revoked a code that required an official design. Most versions currently used in state government buildings are framed in deep indigo blue and feature a white crescent in the upper left corner and a white palm tree in the center.
It is “one of the most attractive, recognizable and marketable state flags in the country,” according to the commission’s report.
The flag that the committee proposed does not differ much from the original iconography. The bottom would remain indigo, he said, because revolutionary soldiers wore uniforms of the same color, dyed with the indigo plant. The crescent – not a moon, but a badge worn by members of the 2nd Regiment of South Carolina – was historically accurate, so it would also remain in the same position.
But the problem most caused by the new flag was concentrated on his beloved palm. The newly designed tree, adapted from a 1910 illustration used in an older version of the state flag, was criticized as “Ragged,” “Horrible” and reminiscent of a toilet brush. Despite historical accuracy, the state’s residents raged against the poor, sickly-looking tree.
The majority leader in the House, James Clyburn, was the rare South Carolina who supported his redesign.
“As a lover of history and a proud South Carolina, I am pleased to see the state moving to standardize the official design of the iconic South Carolina flag,” he tweeted.
Scott Malyerck, a political adviser appointed to the flag committee, told Post and Courier’s Avery Wilks that about 95% of the feedback he received on the flag was negative.
“Message received,” he told the newspaper.
The overwhelmingly unenthusiastic response prompted the commission to revise its bill before it went to lawmakers in 2021.