Accused of racism in Facebook post, SC lawmaker draws scrutiny of House speaker

Emily Bohatch
·2 min read

The South Carolina Speaker of the House is investigating a Facebook post made by a Kershaw County lawmakers after Democrats across the state called the post racist.

The House Speaker’s Office is aware of S.C. Rep. Vic Dabney’s post “and is looking into it,” said Patrick Dennis, the chief counsel for the House and the chief of staff to the Speaker, in a statement. Dennis did not provide any additional comment.

The comment from the Speaker’s Office comes as Dabney faces backlash for a post in which he said he planned to vote against a hate crimes bill Wednesday because he believes that white people have been “vilified by the left.”

Lawmakers ultimately voted 79-29 to pass the bill, with Dabney voting against it.

Several South Carolina lawmakers and political figures sounded off on the post afterwards, with calls to action against Dabney ranging from calls to strip his committee assignments to calls for him to resign outright.

In the post, Dabney said he would not “bow down to the ‘Left,’ ” and vote in favor of the bill.

“I am 63 years old and have spent my entire life watching our society give in to the liberals, and it’s never enough,” Dabney posted. “Our entire way of life has been vilified by the left; it’s our whiteness and our ‘straightness’ that keeps getting in the way.”

Dabney said he thinks white people are “constantly reminded that we are the problem because of our skin color.”

“We are the reason that blacks can’t seem to succeed in our society,” Dabney wrote. “We are the reason that black crime rates are ten times that of others. We are the reason that the black family unit has been destroyed and most young black children don’t have a father figure in the home. It’s all because of the light color of our skin, at least that is what I am told on a regular basis.”

In an interview with The State, Dabney called the accusations of racism “ridiculous.”

“They don’t know me,” Dabney told The State.

Dabney later removed the post from his Facebook page.