A new hatred stalks South Carolina, Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham told the Columbia Urban League on Monday.

It is no longer Jim Crowism, the blatant segregationist mentality that controlled the state for most of the 20th century, but prejudice at the private level, Graham said.

The effects are evident in the education, economic and health gaps that exist among people across the state, Graham told about 200 people at the league’s “Keeping the Legacy Alive” breakfast to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

“It’s because of years of neglect,” Graham said. Neglect is the new racial component responsible for many of the state’s most intractable problems, he said.

While the senator said the federal government no longer denies people their civil rights and everyone can drink from the same water fountain, “We have so far to go in this state.”

World-class schools are surrounded by very bad schools in South Carolina, he said, and some parts of the state can boast the best industry in the world while other sections have little or none.

He referred to the I-95 corridor, where too little industry exists to support good school systems, which are financed by property taxes.

Graham said he doubts the equity education lawsuit under review will be won by the plaintiffs, eight rural school districts against the state.

He said King was able to make government change and become less oppressive, but that change is needed now at the civic and family levels.

Reform is needed, the Seneca native told the audience. Graham hailed Gov. Mark Sanford for spearheading reform in state government, which he said has caused fighting among Republicans in the General Assembly.

Leaders at the breakfast praised Graham for reaching beyond race and party politics to the personal level and seeking more inclusion.

“I don’t know if Dr. King was a Democrat or a Republican,” Graham quipped, “but if he was a Republican in the 1950s, he was a very lonely man.”