While we can all hopefully agree that South Carolina has much bigger problems to tackle in 2021, lawmakers (for whatever reason) decided this should be the year to change the flag.
The South Carolina flag has been named the best state flag in the U.S. With its robust palmetto tree in the center and a crescent/gorget (not a moon) in the upper left corner, our state flag stands out among the rest.
For a state that’s used to being at the bottom of most lists, you would think we would leave our beautiful flag design alone. South Carolina had a good thing going with its flag — and 2020 tried to take that, too.
Technically, South Carolina never had a specific flag design and there are all sorts of different variations of flag — the shape of the Palmetto tree, size of the crescent and the shade of the Indigo background change from maker-to-maker.
Historians had a problem with this and wanted to have a uniform design.
In December, the Post and Courier first reported on the new flag design that historians initially came up with (below).
To put it lightly, the Internet was outraged by the design — mostly angered by the Palmetto tree’s pathetic fronds.
“It looks like it got the electric chair,” one South Carolinian commented.
Several said that it looked like a toilet brush, while others said it looked like it survived a hurricane.
People had questions.
Like why are historians designing a flag? Who decided that trash tree looked good? What’s so bad about keeping the flag the way that it is with a choose-your-own-adventure design?
Anyways, after all of that debate, historians had to go back to the drawing board and decided on two designs that were approved Tuesday by the South Carolina State Flag Study Committee (yes, there is a whole committee dedicated to this), according to the AP.
The designs were sent to the Family and Veterans Services Committee for approval, the AP reported.
Here are the options:
Option A:
Option A “utilizes the palmetto tree that first appeared on the second official state flag, which was adopted in 1910.” The orginal palmetto sketch was submitted by Ellen Heyward Jervey in 1910. It’s a robust tree with a strong drunk and very neat fronds.
Option B:
Option B “features a palmetto tree that has appeared on state flags since at least 1953” and committee members aren’t sure who drew it. The tree, bless it’s heart, has rebellious teenager in-need-of-a-haircut vibes.
(You can probably tell but I’m a strong supporter of option A).
Both designs are considered to be “historic.”
The South Carolina Flag Committee was first established in 2018, according to an 18-page report on the flag (below).
“Perhaps the most difficult task that the Committee has faced in its work has been the adoption of an appropriate and historic palmetto to appear on the flag,” the report said.
No kidding.
If the Family and Veterans Services Committee approves both designs as well, the debate will continue on the Senate Floor before it moves to the House.
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