Note to readers: The photos that originally accompanied this article of the victim and the perpetrator have been removed at the request of the photo-journalist who took them.

This is a picture of 16-year-old  Donnivin Brown, a high school student in Florence, SC.  What do you see when you look at the face of Mr. Brown?

Chase McClary

This is a picture of 23-year-old Chase McClary.  The first time he saw Donnivin Brown, the only thing Mr. McClary could see was  a  ‘n*gger.’  Mr. McClary doesn’t like black people. So, the first time he saw Mr. Brown he just started hitting him with the coffee mug he had in has hand.  The mug broke and Mr. McClary continued to strike Mr. Brown in the face and neck with the jagged edges of the mug handle.

Mr. Brown, whose is only guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time will have scars on his face and neck for the rest of his life.  Now when people look at Mr. Brown they will see evidence of what hate can do to someone’s outside. Hopefully, Mr. Brown’s experience won’t change his inside.

Thanks to the Matthew Shepard-James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, Mr. McClary was not simply found guilty of assault, but of committing a Federal hate crime.  He will now have 48 in Federal penitentiary to think about how much he hates people with a different skin color.