‘I’d love a unanimous vote on this’: Hilton Head leaders hear hate crime resolution
South Carolina, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana and Wyoming have something in common: None of the states have any laws on hate crimes.
That may be changing with a bill moving through the S.C. General Assembly.
Hilton Head leaders voted to support an anti-hate crimes bill in the state legislature Tuesday night.
The bill would “provide penalties for a person convicted of a crime with the intent to assault, intimidate, or threaten a person because of his race, religion, color, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, or homelessness,” according to the bill.
When the resolution came up for a vote, Mayor John McCann said he’d “love a unanimous vote on this,” to other members of Hilton Head Town Council.
The resolution to support the statewide legislation passed with a vote of 7-0, and the room erupted in applause.
Before the vote, members of the community spoke their support for the bill.
“Combating hatred should be your business because preserving the public’s welfare and safety is your responsibility,” Rabbi Brad Bloom told members of council. “Is this resolution not part of the promise of America?”
“This is a place for people of all stripes,” resident Barbara Meyer told the council.
As council members heard from the public, some referenced one of the most well-known hate crimes in South Carolina: The June 2015 shooting at Charleston’s historic Mother Emanuel AME Church, where a self-proclaimed white supremacist murdered nine black parishioners.
Dylann Roof purposely selected that church because of its black parishioners and told FBI agents he was hoping to start a race war, The State newspaper has reported.
Roof pleaded guilty to nine counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder and is on death row. He is being held in a federal prison in Indiana.
Although he did not face any state hate crime charges in South Carolina, a federal jury convicted Roof of murder and hate crimes, The State newspaper has reported.
This story was originally published June 5, 2019 at 10:23 AM with the headline "‘I’d love a unanimous vote on this’: Hilton Head leaders hear hate crime resolution."
