Victim of alleged racist shooting urges SC to pass hate crime law
Jarvis McKenzie had a difficult time realizing what had just happened to him after a white man fired a gun from a car and shouted racist remarks at him in his own neighborhood this summer.
“I didn’t believe it had happened till it dawned on me later on,” McKenzie told reporters Thursday afternoon. “I was like, ‘Wow, did this just happen?’ Especially in my neighborhood.”
The incident occurred weeks after Richland County enacted its hate crime ordinance.
The man accused of shooting at him, Jonathan Andrew Felkel, is the first person charged under the new law. He was also indicted on federal hate crime and firearm charges relating to the incident, officials announced at a press conference Thursday.
The local ordinance and federal charges weren’t enough, McKenzie and his lawyer Tyler Bailey told reporters during a press conference Thursday afternoon. South Carolina also needs its own hate crime law, the two men said.
South Carolina is one of two states without a hate crime law.
“There should be no hate in the community,” McKenzie said. “I thank the government for moving forward” and added he hoped the state would adopt a similar law.
McKenzie, identified as J.M. in court documents, wore boots and a neon yellow and black Columbia Water hoodie while addressing reporters Thursday. The 47-year-old city wastewater department worker said recovering from the incident has been a challenge for him and his family, and he still sometimes fears large crowds and people he doesn’t know.
On July 17, Felkel, 34, fired a gun and yelled “You better keep running, boy” at McKenzie in the gated community where they both lived, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release Wednesday. “Boy” is a racist and derogatory term. The incident occurred near the entrance to the Spring Valley subdivision in northeast Richland County. A federal grand jury indicted Felkel with violating the housing rights of McKenzie.
Local governments around the state, including Richland County, Cayce and Columbia, have enacted their own hate crime ordinances, which place additional penalties on crimes motivated by bias. The penalty for being convicted of a hate crime in Richland County is $500 and 30 days in jail. Attorney General Alan Wilson issued an opinion in October, however, saying local hate crime rules may be unconstitutional, arguing only the General Assembly can enact such laws.
During a press conference at his office, Bailey urged South Carolina lawmakers to pass a hate crime law in 2026. The federal charges against Felkel should motivate South Carolina to act, Bailey said. McKenzie and Bailey were both surprised the U.S. Department of Justice was involved in the case.
“The counties have stepped up, and local governments have stepped up because the state has not done anything,” Bailey said. “They have failed to act.”
A South Carolina hate crime law would help deter crimes motivated by bias, Bailey said.
“If the average racist knew that by acting hateful to somebody, this is what could happen to you, I guarantee you they wouldn’t think twice before doing it,” Bailey said.
“Without a statewide hate crime bill, I think that that element of deterrence is not there, which emboldens people who may have hate in their heart to do something,” he continued.
In the decade after white supremacist Dylann Roof killed nine Black people at the Mother Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina lawmakers have passed a bill named for the late state Sen. Clementa Pinckney through the House. However, the bill has stalled in the state Senate.
Pinckney was the Mother Emanuel pastor, and he was fatally shot by Roof.
The South Carolina General Assembly will reconvene Jan. 13. The Senator Clementa C. Pinckney Hate Crimes Act was introduced in the Senate last year. Lawmakers and candidates that don’t support the bill have argued it wouldn’t do much to save lives and that every crime needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, which would include attacks based on any motive.