Columbia, SC (AP) – When Jarvis McKkenzie closed his eyes at the car’s man, he could not understand the hatred he saw. When the man took the rifle, he shot over his head and exclaimed, “Better run, boy!” When he flew behind the brick wall, McKenzie knew he was because he was black.
McKenzie told her story a month after shooting, as South Carolina is one of two states along with Wyoming, who has no hate crime laws.
About two dozen South Carolina’s local authorities have adopted their hate crimes as the latest attempt to put pressure on the South Carolina Senate to vote for a draft law on proposing stricter penalties for crimes caused by sacrifices for their race, religion, sexual orientation, sex or ethnicity.
For a decade, business pressure, survivors of the Racist Church Church, who left nine dead, and several of their own Republicans were not enough to hide the senators.
Local authorities adopt hate crime laws, but for very low penalties
The Richland County, which lives in McKkenzie, has a decline of hate crime, and a white man visible on a security camera footage grabbing a rifle and shooting through his open car window before driving to his neighborhood on July 24.
However, local laws are limited to misconduct, the sentences of which were closed within a month in prison. The proposal of state hatred crimes supported by business leaders could add a year from beliefs for assault and other violent crimes.
McKenzie sat in the same place on the outskirts of her neighborhood at 5:30 pm, waiting for his supervisor to take him to work. For him and his family, every journey outdoors is now in turmoil, if not for fear.
“It’s very painful to know that I get up every morning. I stand there without knowing if he had seen me before,” McKenzie said.
Efforts of Hate Crime Act from 2015
After 2015 The death of nine black worshipers in Emanuel Ame Church in Charlesston quickly became a painful place in South Carolina. After 20120 Summer racial strife business leaders are a priority and South Carolina’s home maintained its version in 2021.
However, in 2021. And again in the next 2023. In the session, the proposal was suspended in the South Carolina Senate without voting. Sponsors say the leadership of the Republican Senate knows that it will pass as moderate members of their own party, but they support it buried in the calendar with procedural steps.
The opposition is usually done in silence, and the draft law is mentioned only by passing, as the Senate takes other items, such as 2023. In May, when discussions on the guidelines for the history program on topics such as slavery and segregation for a short time had a long -term Democratic Law to ask the Publican Senate leader Shane Massey, why hatred crimes could not vote.
“At the moment, the problem is that there are quite a few people who think not only are good laws, but there are bad laws. This is bad policy not because people support hatred, but because they encourage the department,” replied Massey Senate floor.
Sponsors say there is not enough federal hate crime laws
Opponents of state hate crime laws indicate that there is a federal law of hate crime, and the Charleston Church Sagittarius is in the federal death sentence.
However, federal officials cannot prosecute minors’ cases, they have a limited time and resources compared to the state, and those decisions are made in Washington, DC, not on the spot, said Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, who demanded a hate crime in his county.
“It’s common sense. We are doing something very simple complex and it’s not complicated. If you commit a crime against something just because of their hatred, because of what they are, religion, etc., we know what it is,” Lott said.
The Senate Democrats were particularly disappointed this year’s session, as the senators discussed stricter penalties for attacking health workers or police dogs, hating crimes again.
Sponsors of the Law on Crime Crimes of the State say that South Carolina’s resistance is in favor of the White Supermams.
“The subconscious message that says if you are a racist and want to commit a crime and direct something to their race, gender, nationality, sexual orientation or anything you can do here,” said McKenzie lawyer Tyler Bailey.
The governor says
Republican Governor Henry Mcmaster understands why local authorities adopt their hatred of crime laws, but he said South Carolina’s laws against attacks and other violent crimes have sufficiently severe punishments that judges may impose maximum sentences if they think the main motivation of the crime is hatred.
“There is no such thing as a love crime. There is always an element of hatred or disrespect or something similar,” said a former prosecutor who added that he is afraid of the danger that occurs when investigators try to introduce someone else’s thoughts or police their language.
But some crimes are screaming to give people more support in our society, Lott said.
“I think it is very important that we protect everyone. My race, your race, all race, your religion, must be some protection. That’s what our constitution gives us,” the sheriff said.
And while a man accused of a high and heavy shooting of McKenzie battery attack and battery, faces prison up to 20 years in prison, if convicted, a man who was just waiting to work feels as if he lives in the country he lives, he didn’t care about the terror he felt just because of his race.
“I feel like someone is watching me. I feel like I’m following,” McKenzie said. – It jokes me.