Looking toward the memorials for the three people killed in a racist shooting at a new Town Dollar General last year, local City Council members introduced legislation with the goal of deterring hateful actions.
Five months later, that bill has stalled as the City Council bats First Amendment and efficacy questions, and the number of committee votes against the bill will likely carry to a rejection in the City Council meeting next week.
“Today, we had a hateful act, and over the past month, we had a hateful act,” Peluso said after the meeting, referencing vandalism on a Town Center Starbucks Wednesday. “And a year ago, almost to the day, a hateful act took the lives of three individuals. There’s actions being done in the city that could be either prevented or at the very least addressed in such a way where we make it known that as a city and as a community, that we will not stand by while people are doing things that they think they are allowed to do.”
Background: Hate crime fines, jail time could triple under new City Council bill