Racist Couple Charged With Burning Cross Outside Neighbors’ South Carolina Home

A white couple has been arrested and faces second-degree harassment charges after a cross was posted and set on fire outside their Black neighbor’s home in South Carolina.

The incident happened in the town of Conway at the home of Shawn and Monica Williams. Worden Butler and Alexis Harnett are accused of allegedly placing the flaming cross deliberately in front of the family’s house on Nov. 23. Officers responded to the couple’s home after they reported being “stalked and harassed” by their neighbors. Both victims said they were fearful for their lives as incidents became more “frequent and threatening.”

According to Horry County Police, Harnett even yelled racial slurs at the victims while the victims spoke with law enforcement, all caught on the officers’ body cam. Preliminary investigations found Butler allegedly placed the cross “in full view of the victims’ home” and set it on fire. Harnett would often threaten bodily harm against the victims and told them she “killed a Black woman in the past.”

Horry County Police Chief Joseph Hill released a statement on Dec. 14 saying that hate crimes in his county are unacceptable.

“The individuals responsible will be held accountable for their actions and the hurt they have caused the victims and the greater Horry County community,” Hill said. “We will continue to support the victims and stand with them against such indecency.”

The victims said the last two years have been a nightmare, and the cross-burning “left them speechless.” Butler allegedly posted the couple’s address on Facebook, claiming he was “summoning the devil’s army and “I’m about to make them pay.”

The NAACP is launching an investigation into the racially motivated attack. Along with the Charleston Jewish Federation, AFFA Action, and Mother Emanuel AME Church, the groups put out a joint statement calling for urgency for lawmakers to create a hate crime bill in the state. “The recent cross burning in Conway, South Carolina, is an appalling manifestation of hatred and racism that has no place in our society. It is deeply disheartening that, in 2023, such acts of racism persist in our communities,” the statement reads.

“It is also disheartening that South Carolina remains one of only two states in the U.S. without a hate crime law, and a few powerful senators continue to block debate on this critical legislation. This legislative inaction is not only hurtful to the victims of these crimes but also to the members of all communities that are targeted with hate-motivated violence.”

The Palmetto State is only one of two states that don’t have local laws in place criminalizing hate crimes. Several hate crime bills have made it to the House floor over the last three years, but none have ever been signed into law. The Clementa C. Pinckney Hate Crimes Act, named after the reverend killed in the Emanuel AME Church attack, was passed in March 2023. The bill adds up to five years in prison for a murder conviction, assault, or other violent crimes sparked by the hatred of the victim’s race, sexual orientation, gender, religion, or disability.