South Carolina, the home state of the shooting at an African-American Charleston church that left nine dead, is no stranger to race-related hate crimes. According to NBC and the Southern Poverty Law Center, the state is home to 19 identified hate groups, including four white nationalist organizations and two factions of the Ku Klux Klan. A dozen of the 19 groups are known for racial hatred, which NBC speculates could perhaps be "a reflection of local history in a corner of the U.S. where the Confederate flag still flies in the grounds of the state House."
Six neo-confederate groups, including the League of the South (their motto: "If you call us racists, our response will be 'So what?'"), are active in South Carolina. Additionally, the KKK is active throughout the state, leaving recruiting leaflets in Seneca in July 2014 and hosting a rally in Abbeville the same month.
Police are calling the attacks in Charleston a hate crime, although authorities have not suggested the shooter was linked to a particular group.
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South Carolina is among only five states that do not have a hate crimes law.
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