COLOMBIA – The windows of the law office of a leading South Carolina state house Democrat were destroyed on Monday, a week after he reported receiving a threatening letter in the mail.
The incidents follow what SC House minority leader Todd Rutherford, D-Columbia, has called a sharp increase in furious calls to his office since he introduced a bill to ban special signs that display the Confederate flag .
Rutherford posted pictures of the windows on social media, which showed that one of them was hit near a plaque commemorating Martin Luther King Jr.’s day. He also posted photos of a letter his office received last week with no return address.
The correspondence carried images of the Confederate flag and references to two former SC governors, David Beasley and Jim Hodges, who tried to remove the flag from the Statehouse dome more than two decades ago.
“Where are our rights?” it is written in pen at the top of the page, followed by the message that Rutherford said he perceived as a threat: “You are next.”
“Anyone who thinks the fight for equality is over is unfortunately mistaken,” wrote Rutherford on Facebook.
Rutherford said the windows were hit by two bricks sometime between 6:37 pm and 7:02 pm on Monday night, when his office was empty. He reported the broken office windows to the Columbia police, who came to check that no one had entered the office.
Follow Jamie Lovegrove on Twitter @jslovegrove.