Greek mythology tells the story of Sisyphus, forced to spend eternity pushing a boulder up a hill, only to see it roll back down to the bottom — where he has to start again.
For the past 11 years, since the death of his friend and colleague Sen. Clementa Pinckney in the 2015 Mother Emanuel church massacre, Charleston Democratic Rep. Wendell Gilliard has been pushing a hate crimes bill up the S.C. Statehouse hill.
Twice, in 2021 and 2023, he shouldered it to the top in the S.C. House, passing the bill with big bipartisan majorities — only to see it roll back down to the bottom in the S.C. Senate, where it died without a vote…