Monica Williams’ phone notifications wouldn’t stop dinging while in class.
During her free moment from teaching, she checked her text messages. She learned that her former neighbor, Worden E. Butler had been indicted in April. Williams and her husband, Shawn, have accused Butler, who is white, of burning a cross in his backyard.
“You are not going to believe this,” Monica recalled saying to Shawn on the phone call earlier this spring. “We were both at work just trying to let it sink in.”
The past three years have been harrowing. The Williamses, who are military veterans, purchased a second house in Horry County, South Carolina, more than 160 miles from their home in North Carolina. Around Nov. 24, 2023, Butler uploaded photos of the Williamses’ home, vehicles, and mailbox to his social media, according to court documents. He wrote that he would give “his racist neighbors … a good scare for their health. With a cross in the lawn.”
Later that evening, according to law enforcement, Butler did it: set a cross on fire that faced their home.
This symbol of racist intimidation catapulted the Williamses’ story into the national spotlight, then-nearly 8 years after the horrific mass killing at Mother Emanuel AME Church, the historic Black church in Charleston. South Carolina is one of two U.S. states, alongside Wyoming, without a hate crime law. For years, state lawmakers have tried to enact one. Even the Williamses’ have used their platform to push for the legislation. Yet, there’s still no movement.
However, the state’s U.S. Attorney’s Office announced on April 22 a two-count indictment against Butler on charges of interfering with housing rights and using fire to commit a federal felony. He was arrested in California, transported back to South Carolina, and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Butler has pleaded not guilty to the charges, Spectrum News reported.
In May, Dereke Shoemake, Butler’s court-appointed attorney, asked the court to allow his client to undergo a psychological evaluation, according to a motion he filed, a local news station reported.
“Counsel submits that based on several meetings with Mr. Butler, Counsel has a substantial reason to believe Mr. Butler will have great difficulty in assisting counsel in his own defense,” the motion said. “Mr. Butler’s communications are often incoherent or very difficult to follow, and he should be evaluated to determine whether he was sane at the time of the offense.”
Shoemake did not respond to Capital B’s request for comment. Capital B has filed a public records request asking the Horry County Police Department for incident reports, complaints, calls for service and 911 calls related to this case.
The fight for legislation
Seeing the burning cross next door for the Williamses felt like a story pulled directly from a documentary or a book, Shawn Williams told Capital B. The incident has since cost the family their sense of peace and security.
For Monica, she just wants to chill, come home from work and cook dinner, or grab the mail without being harassed because she’s Black.
“Knowing that this has happened. What else could actually happen?” Shawn questioned. “We’re still working through that because, in a sense, we were traumatized by the whole thing happening. No one needs to be in fear or intimidated when they go home to where they find peace and their tranquility.”
Since their experience, they’ve turned their adversity into advocacy.
The two have pushed for passage of the Senator Clementa C. Pinckney Hate Crimes Act. The bill, named in honor of the former pastor and lawmaker who was among the nine people killed by a white supremacist at Mother Emanuel, would impose penalties and jail time for individuals or mobs that commit crime against someone because of their race, color, religion, or disability.
“The opportunity came for us to step up and use our voices to help catapult or add energy to the movement in South Carolina to get that bill turned into law,” Shawn said. “Not only for individuals such as us, because hate comes in many different forms. We just thank God that, not so much that we were chosen, but he chose us.”
However, the legislation has stalled since it was first introduced in 2021. It’s been difficult to get it passed because of resistance from some Republican legislators in the Senate, said South Carolina state Sen. Tameika Isaac Devine, who is one of the co-sponsors of the bill this session. As a result, the bill hasn’t been sent to the floor for debate.
State Sen. Deon Tedder tried a different route by suggesting the legislature create a hate crime study commission, but in April the Senate rejected the amendment, 25 votes to 17.
“I think if we are able to get it on the floor for an up or down vote it would [get passed] but not hopeful we will get to do that unless more pressure is put on the Republican leadership to allow the issue to be debated,” Isaac Devine told Capital B. “We just have to keep trying.”
Capital B’s attempts to reach GOP lawmakers opposed to the legislation have been unsuccessful.
The Rev. Kenneth Floyd, interim president of the NAACP Conway Branch, is disappointed in the stalemate. He said the inaction shows lawmakers’ disregard for the Black community, yet every election, “they come running to our churches” or the NAACP, he said.
He’s optimistic it will mobilize voters to the ballot box.
“I’m hopeful, praying that we really get something done because let’s just face it, they don’t vote in our favor. It just seemed like we do not exist,” Floyd said. “It’s not enough just to get them registered to vote. We got to get them to the polls and see that they vote.”
On the local level, several cities — such as Conway, Florence, Lake City, and Myrtle Beach — have passed hate crime ordinances, but it’s not enough, said Patrice Willoughby, policy and legislative affairs chief at the NAACP. The current political climate, which has caused social division, has created an environment for an increase in hate crimes, she said.
In 2024, there were 11,679 reported hate crime incidents nationwide, an increase from 8,263 in 2020, according to FBI data. In 2023, South Carolina had 115 incidents, the most recent data available.
Making matters worse, Willoughby said, is that the Trump administration has eliminated funding that could have helped fight the problem — for example, the Department of Justice’s $35 million grant for hate crime prevention.
“On one hand, you can create an environment where hate crimes proliferate. On the other hand, the local entities that have skin in the game and that understand the social makeup, the dynamics within their community, they don’t have the resources that they may have been able to access in order to address some of those issues,” she told Capital B.
Back in South Carolina, the Williamses hope to get a victory in court and a win at the state legislature. They also want their story to motivate others to not tolerate racist behavior, they told Capital B.
“Whether you live in South Carolina or not, I think it’s to the point where it’s going to take the effort of the whole country to hold South Carolina responsible to pass this bill,” Monica said.
Shawn added: “It’s the right thing to do, and when it’s the right thing to do, it’s not just for one, it’s for all. It’s no different than having the rain and the sunshine to help things grow. You’re going to stop something else from growing by taking away sunlight, taking away its rain? That’s not what it’s designed for. It is designed for everyone to be able to live in harmony.”
