COLOMBIA, SC (AP) — When Jarvis McKenzie closes his eyes with the man in the car, he couldn’t understand the hatred he saw. The man is I picked up a riflefired up over his head and cried out, “You better run, boy!” When he scrambled behind a brick wall, Mackenzie knew it was because he was black.
South Carolina spoke to him a month after filming. Hate Crimes Act.
Around 20 South Carolina local governments have passed their own hate crime ordinances in the latest attempt to put pressure on the South Carolina Senate to vote for the bill they propose. Harder penalties For crimes driven by the hatred of the victim due to race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or ethnicity.
10 years of pressure from companies, Survivors The racist The Charleston Church Massacre It left nine deaths, and some of their own Republicans weren’t enough to shake up the senators.
Local governments pass the Hate Crimes Act, but have very mild penalties
Richland County, where Mackenzie lives, has a hate crime ordinance and was first faced with a white man seen on July 24th in security camera footage of a convertible car firing through the windows of a convertible car, carrying a hate crime ordinance.
However, local laws are limited to misdemeanors in a sentence that closes for a month in prison. A state hate crime proposal supported by business leaders can add years to a conviction for assault; Other violent crimes.
Mackenzie sat in the same spot on the edge of the neighbourhood for a year at 5:30am, waiting for the supervisor to pick him up for work. For him and his family, all the trips outside now meet anxiety, if not fearful.
“It’s heartbreaking to know I’m up every morning. I’m standing where I don’t know if he’s ever seen me before,” Mackenzie said.
Since 2015, efforts in the Hate Crimes Act have stalled.
The lack of statewide hate crime laws has quickly become a painful place in South Carolina Death of shooting in 2015 of nine black worshipers at Emmanuel Amé Church in Charleston. Business Leaders after the racial conflict in the summer of 2020 I prioritized that And the South Carolina home passed that version 2021.
But again in 2021 Next session in 2023the proposal stagnated without votes in the South Carolina Senate. Supporters know that Republican Senate leaders will pass as more moderate members of their own party support it, but they continue to fill it in the calendar with procedural moves.
Opposition parties are primarily held in silence, and the bill will be mentioned only when it passes as the Senate. Take other items, Like May 2023, when debates over historical curriculum guidelines for subjects such as slavery and separation temporarily asked longtime Democrats why Republican Senate Massey hates them. Could not get a vote.
“The problem now is that there are a lot of people who think it’s not just a good law, but a bad law, not because people support hatred, but because they promote division,” Massey replied on the Senate floor.
Supporters say the federal hate crime law is not enough
Opponents of the state’s hate crimes law point out that there is a federal hate crimes law, and that the archers at Charleston Church are on federal death row inmates as such.
However, federal officials cannot prosecute cases involving juveniles. They have limited time and resources compared to the state, and those decisions will be made in Washington, D.C., not local, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said. Looking for a hate crime ordinance in his county.
“That’s common sense. We’re making something very simple and complicated. It’s not complicated. If we commit a crime against someone because of who they are, religion, or because of their hatred, we know what it is,” Lott said.
The senators discussed the harsh sentences for attacking health workers and police dogs, but were particularly frustrated at this year’s session as the hate crimes didn’t go anywhere again.
Supporters of the national hate crimes law say the resistance to enact South Carolina’s resistance burns one white supremacist.
“A subliminal message that you’re racist, you’re committed a crime and you want to target someone about race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or what you can do here,” said McKenzie’s lawyer Tyler Bailey.
The governor says South Carolina law will provide punishment without a new hate crime bill
Republican Gov. Henry McMaster understands why local governments pass their own hate crimes laws, but he said South Carolina laws for assault and other violent crimes have enough sentences to allow judges to punish the maximum penalty if they consider hatred as the main motivation for the crime.
“There’s nothing like a crime of love. There’s always an element of hatred and rudeness.
But some crimes scream to give people more support in our society, Lott said.
“I think it’s very important that we protect everyone. We need to protect my race, your race, your race, your religion, that’s what our constitution gives us,” the sheriff said.
And while the man charged with assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature due to the shooting at Mackenzie, if convicted, faces up to 20 years in prison, but those who were waiting to go to work feel like they don’t care about the fear that the condition he lives in has felt for his race.
“It feels like someone is watching me. I feel like I’m being followed,” Mackenzie said. “It surprised me.”
