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- SPLC’s activities have long generated both widespread acclaim and ongoing political controversy. The organization has been accused of financial mismanagement, misleading fund-raising methods, and institutionalized racism.
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Mar 21, 2019 · Bob Moser writes on the Southern Poverty Law Center firing its co-founder and longtime mastermind Morris Dees, after years of allegations of sexual harassment and racial discrimination...
- Bob Moser
Jun 28, 2017 · The Southern Poverty Law Center—led by charismatic, swashbuckling founder Morris Dees—is making the most of the Trump era. But is it overstepping its bounds? By BEN SCHRECKINGER
- Ben Schreckinger
- bschreckinger@politico.com
Apr 5, 2019 · Years of turmoil and complaints led the Southern Poverty Law Center to fire its founder Morris Dees. Civil rights lawyer Morris Dees at the fountain of the civil rights monument designed by...
Oct 25, 2023 · We reviewed the evidence and found that the Southern Poverty Law Center’s criticism of the Alliance Defending Freedom pulls from examples of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric from the past 23...
- What Is The Southern Poverty Law Center?
- How Has The Southern Poverty Law Center Changed?
- What Does The Southern Poverty Law Center Do Now?
- The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Labels Have Led to Violence
- What Happened to Morris Dees?
- What Is The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Goal?
- What Has The Southern Poverty Law Center Said About Alliance Defending Freedom?
- Conclusion
The SPLC is a nonprofit legal organization based in Montgomery, Alabama. It was founded in 1971 by two lawyers, Morris Dees and Joe Levin. But in the decades that followed, the SPLC shifted from legal action to politicized fearmongering. Instead of engaging in civil debate, the group now attempts to smear those with differing views.
In the 1980s, the SPLC began focusing its attention on the Ku Klux Klan. It created the “Klanwatch” project in 1981 to “monitor Ku Klux Klan activity across the country.” Journalist John Egerton wrote that “Dees saw the Klan as a perfect target” because he “perceived chinks in the Klan’s armor: poverty and poor education in its ranks, competitive s...
Today, the SPLC still engages in a small amount of litigation. But by its own admission, its influential victories have become scarce. From 1980 to 2000, the SPLC claimed 17 “landmark cases.” From 2000 to today, it boasts just three, with the latest one as far back as 2016. Instead, the SPLC spends most of its energy identifying and defaming oppone...
The “hate group” label carries extreme connotations, and it should not be thrown around lightly. Sadly, the SPLC has flippantly misused the label without considering the possible consequences. In 2012, a gunman entered the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Family Research Council (FRC), a Christian group dedicated to defending life and family v...
In 2019, then-SPLC President Richard Cohen announced the firing of co-founder and former chief litigator Morris Dees. The news came as a shock to many, as Dees had been the de facto face of the company for decades. In a statement, Cohen did not detail the exact reasons why the company decided to fire Dees, only noting that he “failed to meet” the o...
According to its website, the SPLC wants to “dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements, and advance the human rights of all people.” But some high-ranking employees have made statements that contradict these stated goals. SPLC Senior Fellow Mark Potok, who formerly served as the editor-in-chief for the SPLC’s Intelligence Repor...
ADF advocates for constitutionally protected freedoms including the freedom of religion and the freedom of speech. Sometimes, like in the cases of Jack Phillips and Lorie Smith, this means the freedom to decline to express messages that violate your deeply held beliefs. Jack and Lorie are happy to serve anyone, including those who identify as LGBT....
While the SPLC claims to be a bastion for civil rights, the reality is and has been much more sinister. The organization does not want to engage in meaningful debate but instead wants to silence its opponents by labeling them “hate groups.” This label has led to violence. Former employees have alleged that organizational leaders fostered a toxic cu...
The Southern Poverty Law Center was founded by civil rights lawyers Morris Dees and Joseph J. Levin Jr. in August 1971 as a law firm originally focused on issues such as fighting poverty, racial discrimination and the death penalty in the United States.
Mar 23, 2019 · Southern Poverty Law Center President Richard Cohen stepped down Friday, creating a widening crack in the leadership of a nonprofit mired in recent controversy.
