If our state is to create a hate crimes bill honoring Pinckney, it must address race | Opinion

Differentiate hate crimes bill

A few weeks ago, a Shell gas station owner shot and killed Cyrus Carmack-Belton, a 14-year-old boy, for doing nothing wrong, something that many people believe was a hate crime because they believe the owner chased the young man down because he was an African American.

Forty-nine states and territories have hate crime laws on the books, but not South Carolina.

This recent incident in Columbia has prompted lawmakers, particularly Rep. Leon Howard, D-Richland, to look at legislation once again, particularly because the S.C. House of Representatives voted to pass the Sen. Clementa C. Pinckney Hate Crimes Bill during the South Carolina 125th General Assembly, but the bill did not make it through the Senate committee.

I think South Carolina is long overdue for a hate crimes law; however, I believe our state legislators, Republicans and Democrats, should first focus on criminalizing hate crimes against people because of their race and religion, especially a bill named after Sen. Pinckney.

It has been proven that when Dylann Roof went into the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston in 2015, he purposely shot and killed Senator Pinckney and his parishioners because of their race and religion. The Carmack-Belton case appears to warrant concerns about race as well.

This is not to say all citizens of South Carolina do not deserve to be protected under the law for hate crimes, but if the law is to be named after Senator Pinckney, then let it be a law that protects people from hate crimes because of their race and religion.

Bridget Deline, Columbia

Uncomfortable thoughts

I read with dismay your story of June 13 about a Midland’s teacher who was required to stop the course she was teaching after several students complained they were “uncomfortable.”

I taught school every semester for 58 years at a number of fine schools, including the University of South Carolina, the College of Charleston, the Harvard Law School and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

I began every course with the promise that I would do my best to make the students so uncomfortable they could only escape by thinking.

Was I wrong for all those years?

Alex Sanders, Charleston

Support equine act

Many rural, agriculturally driven counties in our state are facing urban sprawl and development

at a pace never seen before while much of our rich, ecologically significant farmland is being

zoned as low-density residential (LDR) by local governments.

We must consider unique opportunities that assist in conserving our farmlands, which is exactly what the South Carolina Equine Advancement Act does.

The legislation, passed by the S.C. House of Representatives, would create a grant program that could assist in preserving our state’s agricultural land.

Approximately 70% of land in South Carolina counties with a large equine presence is categorized as LDR and therefore eight times more likely to be transformed into commercial or residential real estate.

Funding from the grant program would go directly to support equine-based organizations and horse activities that utilize and maintain our agricultural land and farming heritage, including growing and preserving the existing horse trail network, allowing organizations the financial flexibility to preserve private property through conservation easements, and providing additional funding to utilize more acreage for horse-related activities, like grazing and training.

Please consider supporting the South Carolina Equine Advancement Act and protecting one of our state’s most valuable natural resources – agricultural land.

Deborah McCutchen, Kingstree

Ode to fathers

As we celebrate Father’s Day, I send my blessing to all the men who care for, protect and provide for their families. You have been entrusted with the gift of fatherhood and inherited a high calling.

We read in the book of Proverbs, “Train the young in the way they should go; even when old, they will not swerve from it” (22:6). A good father embodies a life of unwavering service so that his family might be inspired to do the same for others.

I urge all fathers to install the tenets of faith in your children. Build your house on the rock of truth so your family is safe and unshakable.

Guide your family through the desert of temptations the world offers and take responsibility for your children’s education.

Making dialogue an important activity in your family’s life will help reduce violence in our society.

May you find joy and fulfillment in this sacred calling that God has given you.

Maria Aselage, Charleston