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From Conway to Columbia, the potential passage of a hate crimes bill by the state legislature of South Carolina has garnered headlines.

Legislators discussed the possibility during a media event last week, the day before the legislature reconvened.

The Clementa C. Pinckney Hate Crimes Act was passed by the state聽House of Representatives聽in 2023 but stalled in the senate.

Pinckney was a state senator and the pastor of Mother Emanuel AME Church, a Black church in Charleston, where nine churchgoers were murdered during bible study by a shooter in 2015.

After a cross was burnt in a Conway-area neighborhood, local NAACP leaders held a press conference in December calling for the passage of the hate crimes bill when state legislators reconvened this month.

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Cross-burning shocks Conway community, prompts calls for hate crime bill

• By S.T. Cardinal tommy.cardinal@myhorrynews.com

At the media event last week, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Brad Hutto voiced his support for the passage of the bill and said he thought it would pass in the senate if introduced this session.

But the majority leader, not minority leader, of the Senate schedules the daily legislative calendar, which may be bad news for those advocating for the passage of the bill this session. That鈥檚 because Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey has his doubts about the hate crimes bill, raising concerns that it wouldn鈥檛 impact the severity of punishments in the state and that it could lead to punishment of speech.

The Charleston shooter was a self-proclaimed white supremacist who told his friends that he wanted to ignite a race war in America, according to a New York Times article. He was convicted to nine consecutive life sentences and the death penalty by a federal court. Massey said the shooter鈥檚 harsh sentence is an example of why the hate crimes bill is not needed in South Carolina.

鈥淲hat else are we going to do to [the Charleston shooter]?,鈥� Massey said. 鈥淚 mean if we want to go get him, we want to get a posse, go get him and string him up in Charleston, sign me up. I鈥檓 on the team.鈥�

He said 鈥渋f there鈥檚 a problem with the penalty somewhere, then we should change it鈥� and that he thinks 鈥渋t鈥檚 wrong for the law to treat people differently.鈥�

鈥淔undamentally, at its core, that鈥檚 what that legislation does. It says that some victims are more important than other victims, and I think that鈥檚 wrong,鈥� Massey said. 鈥淎nd I have a hard time getting past that. I don鈥檛 want any attacks on anybody because of who they are. I don鈥檛 want attacks on anybody period. But I think you can鈥檛 treat people differently and write that into law. We鈥檝e done that in the past. That wasn鈥檛 cool, man. And I don鈥檛 want to do that again but do it in the opposite way.鈥�

Hutto said he thinks that whether the bill would impact the severity of someone鈥檚 sentence isn鈥檛 the main point of the bill, but it鈥檚 the message it sends. He said being one of the last states to pass a hate crimes bill hurts industry recruitment, tourism and the overall perception of South Carolina.

鈥淧assage of the hate crimes bill is probably going to affect zero sentences in this state because if you鈥檝e already done something that despicable, you鈥檙e probably already getting the maximum sentence and getting life anyways, so life plus five years doesn鈥檛 really mean anything,鈥� Hutto said.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 not the point. The point is it鈥檚 the right thing to do. It鈥檚 right to say that the policy of South Carolina is we don鈥檛 tolerate crimes based on hate. It鈥檚 not about whether the criminal is going to get sentenced any tougher because they鈥檙e probably not. That鈥檚 not what this bill is designed to do. It鈥檚 designed to say that we as a people believe that it is inherently wrong to target someone based on who they are for criminal activity.鈥�

Massey said he and fellow members have other concerns about the bill as well.

鈥淚 think there are a lot of people who think this isn鈥檛 about the crime, this is about speech,鈥� Massey said. 鈥淲e even have people say it on the floor in more than one case, there are people who are pushing the bill who don鈥檛 like the speech, and they want to punish the speech. And I think there are a number of folks who are opposing this who think that鈥檚 where we鈥檙e headed.鈥�

Hutto pushed back on that assertion.

鈥淚 think most people would agree that all crime is bad, but crime targeted on a particular victim because of who they are and it鈥檚 hateful deserves an additional penalty, and that鈥檚 all our bill does,鈥� Hutto said. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 criminalize speech. It doesn鈥檛 criminalize thought. You actually have to commit a violent crime first and then in a subsequent proceeding, have the judge or jury say that it鈥檚 been proven that the basis on that crime was based on hate.鈥�

Massey said he doesn鈥檛 believe there is sufficient support in the senate for the passage of the hate crime bill. He disagrees with Hutto鈥檚 claim that South Carolina isn鈥檛 making a statement against hate, saying that he 鈥渄isputes that the statement is not already there鈥� due to harsh sentencing of hate-related crimes, which are determined by individual judge鈥檚 discretions.

鈥淚f there are enough people who say that we want to take this up and we want to vote on it, then it鈥檒l come up,鈥� Massey said. 鈥淏ut I鈥檒l tell you that right now, I don鈥檛 see that anything has changed from where we were eight months ago.鈥�