Muslim community urge South Carolina lawmakers to pass hate crime bill

The possibility for a hate crime law in South Carolina is now one step closer to becoming reality, giving that South Carolina and Wyoming are the only states without any hate crime legislation, ABC reported.

A house subcommittee unanimously voted to advance the bill Thursday. It’s called the Clementa C. Pinckney Hate Crimes Act, named after a senator who was killed in the 2015 Charleston shooting at Emanuel AME Church.

Myrtle Beach City Council passed a hate crime resolution earlier this month which urges state lawmakers to pass legislation of their own.

The bill is even gaining support from the nation’s biggest Muslim civil rights organization Council on American-Islamic Relations, (CAIR). Members of the Grand Strand Islamic Society (GSIS) said if state lawmakers pass the hate crime bill, it will provide harsher punishments for violent crimes against someone based on factors like race, color, orientation and religion.