Burning cross outside Black family's home outrages civil rights leaders

Civil right leaders are speaking out after a cross was burned outside a South Carolina home, WMBF reported.

After the incident, Shawn and Monica Williams, who are Black, are thinking about moving out of the town of Conway.

As WMBF points out, South Carolina doesn't have a hate crime law.

The Williams say they have been harassed by their neighbors for years, ranging from racial slurs to outright threats, which culminated with a cross burning outside their home just feet away from their yard.

The couples' neighbors were arrested over the incident, but the NAACP's Marvin Neal said the incident shows the need for a hate crime bill in the state.

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“In these days and times, we don’t expect things like that to happen; it’s really appalling; the Emanuel Nine should have set the precedent for a hate crime law,” Neal said, referring to the 2015 racist killing of nine churchgoers in Charleston.

“We thought we were on the road in that direction when that happened, but here we are again.”

NAACP task force member Cedric Blain-Spain told WMBF that there needs to be changes.

“This here renews our efforts,” Blain-Spain said. “I just hope that we would be resilient and come together because, certainly, this has opened old wounds for those who have lived through the Jim Crow era.”