Case Explained:This article breaks down the legal background, charges, and implications of Case Explained: Decade after Mother Emanuel, SC faces ‘unfinished business’ on hate crime law – Legal Perspective
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WACH) — Ten years after the murders of nine parishioners at Mother Emanuel AME Church, South Carolina is still grappling with how to honor their memory and prevent future hate-fueled violence.
The massacre, carried out by a white supremacist who posed with the Confederate flag before the attack, reignited debate over the flag flying on State House grounds.
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Republican lawmaker Jenny Horne emerged as a key voice in that debate. Her speech urging lawmakers to “take it down” went viral and helped shift the state’s course.
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The flag was eventually removed and placed in a museum.
This Dec. 21, 2018, photo provided by the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room shows the final Confederate flag used at the South Carolina Statehouse, on display at the Confederate Relic Room in Columbia, S.C. It took more than three years after the flag was removed on July 10, 2015, to put it on display. (Brad Warthen/South Carolina Confederate Relic Room via AP)
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Now, some lawmakers and advocates say the state faces another historic moment with the proposed Senator Clementa Pinckney Hate Crimes Act, named for the slain pastor and state senator.
The legislation would impose penalties of up to five years in prison and fines of $10,000 for crimes motivated by race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or other protected characteristics.
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The bill was first introduced in 2021. Nearly a decade after the massacre, South Carolina remains one of only two states without a hate crime law.
Horne, who is no longer in politics, called the delay “unfinished business.”
I think it’s unfinished business. I hope future General Assemblies will take it up and pass it. It won’t prevent someone from committing a horrific act, but it sends a clear message that South Carolina does not tolerate hate crimes,” Horne said.
Horne said she still wonders why lawmakers have not acted. “I have no idea. If that doesn’t do it, I don’t know what would. He was a state senator, a reverend, a public servant—one of ours. I just don’t understand it; it doesn’t make any sense.”
As the state moves toward the start of another legislative session, the question remains: will South Carolina finally act to honor the Emanuel Nine and make hate a punishable offense, or will this remain unfinished business?