Beaufort joins other cities and towns by passing hate crime ordinance (2024)

BEAUFORT— With City Council's unanimous vote May 14, Beaufort joined the growing list of South Carolina municipalities to have passed a hate crime ordinance.

"While this can be seen as largely symbolic, it does, we hope, send a message that here in the City of Beaufort, intimidation based on a protected class is not tolerated as it comes to our ordinances," said Beaufort's Assistant City Manager John Sauve as he introduced the first reading of the ordinance during the April 23 City Council meeting.

With Beaufort's vote, more than a dozen municipalities in the state have passed hate crime ordinances.Summerville and North Charleston passed similar ordinancesjust days before Beaufort's vote. Hardeeville adopted a hate crime ordinance in April, while Bluffton did the same in October 2023.

Speaking during the April 23 Council meeting, Sauve noted that South Carolina is one of only two states, the other being Wyoming, that does not have a state statute or code addressing hate crimes.

“I believe the number of local governments passing these ordinances will continue to grow as long as our General Assembly allows a handful of senators, lacking in moral fortitude, to block a statewide law addressing hate crimes. South Carolina being one of only two states in our union to not have a hate crime law on the books is not a good look,” wrote Beaufort City Manager Scott Marshall in an email to The Post and Courier.

The S.C. House passed a bipartisan hate crimes bill in March of 2023, but it has since stalled in the state Senate. The "Clementa C. Pinckney Hate Crimes Act” is named after the former Charleston lawmaker and pastor who was one of nine Black worshippers murdered by a white supremacist at Emanuel AME Church in 2015.

During Beaufort's May 14 discussion, Councilman Mitch Mitchell noted that Dylann Roof, the man convicted of the Emanuel AME Church shooting, was not charged with a hate crime in the aftermath of the mass killing, saying there was no doubt that Roof hated the people he killed.

"From a legal perspective, they could not add additional punishment for hate crimes because the state does not have a hate crime bill," Mitchell said. "That should clarify for anyone what we're trying to do here."

Reviewing the number of recent hate crime incidents, Sauve said that between 2018 and 2022, only a single violation based on a protected class had been reported in Beaufort. It was, he said, based on race.

"Although the numbers are low here, we think that this is a tool that the police department needs to have in their belt," Sauve added. "We hope that it sends a message to Columbia, to our elected officials, that we need to act. We need this at the state level for more serious offenses."

As the language for the new ordinance was drafted and debated, Beaufort Mayor Phil Cromer expressed concern over what he saw as the subjective nature of determining the intent behind an individual's actions. There is, he said, a gray area between free speech and hate speech.

"What's said in an argument can be subjective depending upon the person and how one interprets the meaning of the words. As far as First Amendment rights, that was a concern."

Cromer voted in favor of the ordinance during both readings required for its adoption, satisfied that police training and investigative efforts will determine when the new ordinance should be invoked.

Beaufort's ordinanceprohibits acts of intimidation based on the actual or perceived race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical or mental disability, or national origin. As with the ordinances passed in other municipalities, it cannot be invoked as a standalone charge. It must charged as an enhancement to another violation.

The police department will be tasked with proving that the violation occurred because the perpetrator intended to intimidate or harass a person based on their protected class.

The penalty for conviction under Beaufort's hate crime ordinance is a fine up to $500 and/or imprisonment up to 30 days. Punishment may also include community service or participation in community service or educational programs.