South Carolina remains one of only two states without a hate crimes law, and proponents worry that efforts in the Legislature are stalling to increase penalties for crimes committed against minorities and others victimized by prejudice.

Families of nine victims killed in a racist attack at a Black South Carolina church have reached a settlement with the Justice Department over a faulty background check that allowed Dylann Roof to purchase the gun he used in the 2015 massacre.

A federal appeals court has upheld the conviction and death sentence of a man on federal death row for the racist slayings of nine members of a Black South Carolina congregation.

FILE - President Barack Obama speaks at a service honoring the life of Rev. Clementa Pinckney, one of nine people killed in the shooting at Emanuel AME Church, in Charleston, S.C. on June 26, 2015. Cody Keenan, the White House speechwriter who helped Obama work on his response to the Charleston church massacre, has a book deal. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)NEW YORK – The White House speechwriter who helped President Barack Obama work on his response to the Charleston church massacre in June 2015 has a book deal. “Grace: A President, His Speechwriter, and Ten Days in the Battle for America” will be published in Fall 2022, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books & Media announced Tuesday.