Difference between revisions of "Southern Poverty Law Center"

Revision as of 23:59, October 25, 2008

The Southern Poverty Law Center is a leftwing legal and activist organization created in 1971 in Montgomery, Alabama. It was founded by trial lawyers Morris Dees and Joe Levin, and its first president was civil rights leader Julian Bond, who would later take control of the NCAAP. SPLC supports a wide variety of liberal positions; it is pro-immigration, advocates multiculturalism and the homosexual agenda, supports racial preferences and defendants' rights, and advocates against what it considers "hate groups".

This "controversial, liberal organization" ^[1] has been criticized in mainstream press for being extravagant in its spending, and using charges of racism to stiffle conservatives. ^[2]

The last year that the Better Business Bureau's Philanthropic Advisory Service reported on the SPLC, in 1994, Dees and then Executive Director Edward Ashworth took home over $150,000 each, and the organization then possessed over $62 million in assets ^[3]. It now controls over $200 million, and Dees pulls $286,000 in salary.^[4] In 2000, SPLC fundraised $27 million and made an additional $17 million from investments, but spent only $13 million on its civil rights program. ^[5] It is no longer listed in the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance^[6] because that would require that "at least 50 percent of total income from all sources, should be applied to programs and activities directly related to the purposes for which the organization exists." The SPLC spent 89 percent of its total income on fund-raising and administrative costs. ^[7]

In addition to donations from liberals members, which are often ellicited by sensationalizing hate crimes, the center raises a lot of revenue seizing assets of violent groups, and by extorting groups that do not want to be accused of racism. In 1987, the SPLC won a major case on behalf of Beulah Mae Donald, the mother of a Klan lynching victim. This was the invention of a clever new tactic-- suing domestic terrorist groups into bankruptcy-- but Ms. Donald benefitted very little. Of the $7 million verdict, only $50,000 went to her. ^[8]

While SPLC organizes against obvious hate groups such as the KKK or Aryan Brotherhood, it also lumps in conservative organizations in an attempt to intimidate them. For instance, SPLC considers Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) a hate group, because it opposes illegal immigration, and uses demonstrations as a method, which the SPLC deems intimidation.^[9] Similarly, the center labels the anti-immigration website VDARE as a hate group, because it argues against illegal immigration ^[10]. Another example is the Council of Convservative Citizens, a conservative activist organization that advocates on behalf of states' rights and against immigration, communism, racial quotas and gun control. SPLC labels all members as racist because a minorty of members had decades-past connections to segregationist organizations. In fact, the CCC attracts such mainstream speakers such as former Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), Gov. Kirk Fordice (R-MS) and Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.), and engages in charitable and cultural events.

Additionally, the SPLC runs tolerance.org, a website that advocates multiculturalism, the homosexual agenda and "social justice". It is designed with teachers in mind so that these ideas can influence young children in the classroom ^[11] For instance, teachers can click "classroom activities" then "early grades" and "Tolerance Issues: Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual issues:" or "tolerance issues: Gender Issues" and arrive at a pro-alternative family article, among others.^[12]. Its magazine is sent to over 400,000 eduators, and over 10,000 schools participate in its programs.

References