By JEFFREY COLLINS Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Two survivors of a 2015 racist massacre that killed nine of their friends at a Charleston church say South Carolina’s lack of a hate crimes law is an insult to what they suffered through at their Bible study.

Wyoming and South Carolina are the only U.S. states without a law giving stiffer penalties for crimes motivated by someone’s race, sexual orientation, religion or disability.

Polly Sheppard and Felicia Sanders told a group of state senators Tuesday it sends a message that the state isn’t serious about stopping the kind of wickedness that led to the massacre at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal.

The House and a Senate subcommittee have approved the bill, which died on the Senate floor last year.

Read more here.

LIFT Wyoming Educates, Inspires, and Empowers Wyoming Teenagers

LIFT Wyoming was designed to "promote leadership in our young people for Wyoming's future," and it aims to to create a new generation of Wyomingites that can lead the state in new and exciting ways. 

More From Wake Up Wyoming