COLOMBIA, SC (AP) – South Carolina senators may soon take on one of the most controversial issues to hit the state in years: standardizing the iconic heart of palm tree and the half-moon design of the state flag.
The flag flying daily at the Casa do Estado looks different from those hanging in the chambers of the Chamber and the Senate and in the governor’s office, because the Legislature never approved the appearance of the flag.
In 2018, lawmakers created a committee of historians who painstakingly studied the flags of South Carolina before the United States Declaration of Independence was signed and pulled out the first designs of the palm tree, the crescent and the shade of blue to create the most historically accurate as possible.
After two years of study, they launched a project and, just after Christmas, The Post and Courier of Charleston wrote a story about it. The public revolted, especially with the palm tree, which was far from robust. Historically accurate did not fly on social networks.
The tree “looks like it went through Hurricane Hugo!” one person wrote on twitter. The sparse branches briefly became a meme on how to survive in 2020.
“This is probably the best symbol for accurately depicting the history of the state flag. It’s just not going to sell to the public, ”said state senator Ronnie Cromer.
The committee came back and pulled in some more contemporary 20th century designs that were still tied to official uses. A Senate subcommittee approved two bills on Tuesday – one with a symmetrical tree and one with a more natural looking but still healthy tree – and sent them for the entire Family and Veterans Services Committee.
“That way, more people can be held accountable,” joked Cromer, a Republican from Prosperity.
It was a walk through the Statehouse that started the whole debate. Several years ago, political adviser Scott Malyerc noted that the state flag flying at the top of the Capitol was not the same flag that was in the governor’s office.
Malyerc conducted some research and found that there is no standard state flag. The shade of indigo blue is different. Some have symmetrical palms and others have a more natural look. Details were often decided by which flag manufacturer offered the lowest price to the state.
“The tree means something. The crescent means something. Blue means something. I thought it was a bit of an oversight to leave that to the lowest bidder, ”said Malyerc.
All of this symbolism goes back to the Revolutionary War, when Colonel William Moultrie’s 2nd South Carolina Regiment repelled the British’s first attempt to take Charleston – then called Charlestown – at the Battle of Sullivan in 1776.
The crescent moon (true fans of the Palmetto State flag know it is not a moon) was used by Moultrie’s soldiers. The indigo tone – a critical culture for South Carolina 250 years ago – matched his uniforms. And the palm tree pays homage to the material the soldiers used to hastily build a fort. British cannonballs bounced off the spongy bark of the trees and the invaders were unable to reach the coast.
The reaction against the original project surprised Malyerc and the committee. But they listened and created what they consider to be two most popular designs.
Malyerc also understands the design of the palm tree and the crescent moon, an image that has emerged throughout the state in the last 20 years. Former governor Nikki Haley almost always wears a necklace with him. Marketing research shows popularity it is only eclipsed by the Texas lone star design. To appear on the committee on Tuesday, Malyerc pulled a tie with the design he bought two decades ago.
“We don’t want to change it dramatically. We just want to make it uniform, ”said Malyerc of the state flag. “We got into the weeds a little bit. But you have to do that, I think. “
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Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP.