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Southern Poverty Law Center

Founded	1971; 53 years ago (1971)
Founder	Morris Dees Joseph J. Levin, Jr.
Type	Public-interest law firm Civil rights advocacy organization
Tax ID no.	63-0598743 (EIN)
Focus	Hate groups Racism Civil rights
Location	Montgomery, Alabama, U.S.
Area served	United States
Product	Legal representation Public education
Key people	J. Richard Cohen, President
Revenue	$40,418,368 (2012 FY)
Endowment	$319 million
Employees	254
Website	www.splcenter.org

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is noted for its successful legal cases against white supremacist groups, its classification of hate groups and other extremist organizations, and its educational programs that promote tolerance. The SPLC's classification and listing of hate groups – organizations that in its assessment "attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics" – and its labeling of certain people as extremists, have been the source of some controversy.

SPLC was founded by Morris Dees and Joseph J. Levin Jr. in 1971 as a civil rights law firm in Montgomery, Alabama. Civil rights leader Julian Bond joined Dees and Levin and served as president of the board between 1971 and 1979.

In 1979, the SPLC began a litigation strategy of filing civil suits for monetary damages on behalf of the victims of violence from the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups. The SPLC has also become involved in other civil rights causes, including cases to challenge what it sees as institutional racial segregation and discrimination, inhumane and unconstitutional conditions in prisons and detention centers, discrimination based on sexual orientation, the mistreatment of illegal immigrants, and the unconstitutional mixing of church and state. The SPLC has provided information about hate groups to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other law enforcement agencies.

History

The Southern Poverty Law Center was founded by civil rights lawyers Morris Dees and Joseph J. Levin Jr. in 1971 as a law firm originally focused on issues such as fighting poverty, racial discrimination and the death penalty in the United States. The SPLC's first president was Julian Bond, who served until 1979 and then remained on the board of directors until his death in 2015. In 1979, Dees and the SPLC began monitoring far-right groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, sharing their observations with law enforcement agencies (which, after the COINTELPRO program was revealed, were forbidden from monitoring such groups without evidence of criminal activity). They initiated civil suits against KKK chapters and similar organizations for monetary damages to gain justice on behalf of their victims. In 1981, the Center began its Klanwatch project to monitor the activities of the KKK. That project, now called Hatewatch, has been expanded to include seven other types of hate organizations.

In July 1983, the SPLC headquarters was firebombed, destroying the building and records. As a result of the arson, Klansmen Joe M. Garner and Roy T. Downs Jr., along with Klan sympathizer Charles Bailey, pleaded guilty in February 1985 to conspiring to intimidate, oppress and threaten members of black organizations represented by SPLC. The SPLC rebuilt its headquarters building from 1999 to 2001.

In 1984, Dees became an assassination target of The Order, a revolutionary white supremacist group. By 2007, according to Dees, more than 30 people had been jailed in connection with plots to kill him or to blow up SPLC offices.

In 1986, the entire legal staff of the SPLC, excluding Dees, resigned as the organization shifted from traditional civil rights work toward fighting right-wing extremism.

In 1989, the Center unveiled its Civil Rights Memorial, which was designed by Maya Lin. The Center's "Teaching Tolerance" project was initiated in 1991.

In 1994 the Montgomery Advertiser published an eight-part critical report on the SPLC, saying that it exaggerated the threat posed by the Klan and similar groups in order to raise money, discriminated against black employees, and used misleading fundraising tactics. The SPLC dismissed the series as a "hatchet job". In 1995, four white men were indicted for planning to blow up the SPLC.

In May 1998, three white supremacists were arrested for allegedly planning a nationwide campaign of assassinations and bombings targeting "Morris Dees, an undisclosed federal judge in Illinois, a black radio show host in Missouri, Dees's Southern Poverty Law Center in Alabama, the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, and the Anti-Defamation League in New York."

In 2008, the SPLC and Dees were featured on National Geographic's Inside American Terror explaining their litigation against several branches of the Ku Klux Klan.

Notable cases

The Southern Poverty Law Center has initiated a number of civil cases seeking injunctive relief and monetary awards on behalf of its clients. The SPLC has said it does not accept any portion of monetary judgments. Dees and the SPLC "have been credited with devising innovative legal ways to cripple hate groups, including seizing their assets." However, this has led to criticism from some civil libertarians, who contend that the SPLC's tactics chill free speech and set legal precedents that could be applied against activist groups which are not hate groups. The SPLC has also entered suits related to mass incarceration and children's rights in prison and criminal justice issues.

Vietnamese fishermen

In 1981, the SPLC took Ku Klux Klan leader Louis Beam's Klan-associated militia, the Texas Emergency Reserve (TER), to court to stop racial harassment and intimidation of Vietnamese shrimpers in and around Galveston Bay. The Klan's actions against approximately 100 Vietnamese shrimpers in the area included a cross burning, sniper fire aimed at them, and arsonists burning their boats. In May 1981 U.S. District Court judge Gabrielle McDonald issued a preliminary injunction against the Klan, requiring them to cease intimidating, threatening, or harassing the Vietnamese. McDonald eventually found the TER and Beam liable for tortious interference, violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act, and of various civil rights statutes and thus permanently enjoined them against violence, threatening behavior, and other harassment of the Vietnamese shrimpers. The SPLC also uncovered an obscure Texas law "that forbade private armies in that state." McDonald found that Beam's organization violated it and hence ordered the TER to close its military training camp.

White Patriot Party

In 1982 armed members of the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan terrorized Bobby Person, a black prison guard, and members of his family. They harassed and threatened others, including a white woman who had befriended blacks. In 1984 Person became the lead plaintiff in Person v. Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, a lawsuit brought by the SPLC in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. The harassment and threats continued during litigation and the court issued an order prohibiting any person from interfering with others inside the courthouse. In January 1985, the court issued a consent order that prohibited the group's "Grand Dragon", Frazier Glenn Miller, Jr., and his followers from operating a paramilitary organization, holding parades in black neighborhoods, and from harassing, threatening or harming any black person or white persons who associated with black persons. Subsequently, the court dismissed the plaintiffs' claim for damages.

Within a year the court found Miller and his followers, now calling themselves the White Patriot Party, in criminal contempt for violating the consent order. Miller was sentenced to six months in prison followed by a three-year probationary period, during which he was banned from associating with members of any racist group such as the White Patriot Party. Miller refused to obey the terms of his probation. He made underground "declarations of war" against Jews and the federal government before being arrested again. Found guilty of weapons violations, he went to federal prison for three years.

United Klans of America

In 1987, SPLC won a case against the United Klans of America for the lynching of Michael Donald, a black teenager in Mobile, Alabama. The SPLC used an unprecedented legal strategy of holding an organization responsible for the crimes of individual members to help produce a $7 million judgment for the victim's mother. The verdict forced United Klans of America into bankruptcy. Its national headquarters was sold for approximately $52,000 to help satisfy the judgment. In 1987, five members of a Klan offshoot, the White Patriot Party, were indicted for stealing military weaponry and plotting to kill Dees. The SPLC has since successfully used this precedent to force numerous Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups into bankruptcy.

White Aryan Resistance

On November 13, 1988, in Portland, Oregon, three white supremacist members of East Side White Pride and White Aryan Resistance (WAR) fatally assaulted Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian man who came to the United States to attend college. In October 1990, the SPLC won a civil case on behalf of Seraw's family against WAR's operator Tom Metzger and his son, John, for a total of $12.5 million. The Metzgers declared bankruptcy, and WAR went out of business. The cost of work for the trial was absorbed by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as well as the SPLC. As of August 2007, Metzger still makes payments to Seraw's family.

Church of the Creator

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In May 1991, Harold Mansfield Jr, a black war veteran in the United States Navy, was murdered by George Loeb, a member of the neo-Nazi "Church of the Creator" (now called the Creativity Movement). SPLC represented the victim's family in a civil case and won a judgement of $1 million from the church in March 1994. The church transferred ownership to William Pierce, head of the National Alliance, to avoid paying money to Mansfield's heirs. The SPLC filed suit against Pierce for his role in the fraudulent scheme and won an $85,000 judgment against him in 1995. The amount was upheld on appeal and the money was collected prior to Pierce's death in 2002.

Christian Knights of the KKK

The SPLC won a $37.8 million verdict on behalf of Macedonia Baptist Church, a 100-year-old black church in Manning, South Carolina, against two Ku Klux Klan chapters and five Klansmen (Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and Invisible Empire, Inc.) in July 1998. The money was awarded stemming from arson convictions; these Klan units burned down the historic black church in 1995. Morris Dees told the press, "If we put the Christian Knights out of business, what's that worth? We don't look at what we can collect. It's what the jury thinks this egregious conduct is worth that matters, along with the message it sends." According to The Washington Post the amount is the "largest-ever civil award for damages in a hate crime case."

Aryan Nations

In September 2000, the SPLC won a $6.3 million judgment against the Aryan Nations (AN) from an Idaho jury who awarded punitive and compensatory damages to a woman and her son who were attacked by Aryan Nations guards. The lawsuit stemmed from the July 1998 attack when security guards at the Aryan Nations compound near Hayden Lake in northern Idaho, shot at Victoria Keenan and her son. Bullets struck their car several times, causing the car to crash. An Aryan Nations member held the Keenans at gunpoint. As a result of the judgement, Richard Butler turned over the 20-acre (81,000 m) compound to the Keenans, who sold the property to a philanthropist. He donated the land to North Idaho College, which designated the area as a "peace park". Because of the lawsuit, members of the AN drew up a plan to kill Dees, which was disrupted by the FBI.

Ten Commandments monument

In 2002, the SPLC and the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore for placing a display of the Ten Commandments in the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building. Moore, who had final authority over what decorations were to be placed in the Alabama State Judicial Building's Rotunda, had installed a 5,280 pound (2400 kg) granite block, three feet wide by three feet deep by four feet tall, of the Ten Commandments late at night without the knowledge of any other court justice. After defying several court rulings, Moore was eventually removed from the court and the Supreme Court justices had the monument removed from the building.

Ranch Rescue

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On March 18, 2003, two illegal immigrants from El Salvador, Edwin Alfredo Mancía Gonzáles and Fátima del Socorro Leiva Medina, were trespassing through a Texas ranch owned by Joseph Sutton. They were accosted by vigilantes known as Ranch Rescue, who were recruited by Sutton to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border region nearby. Mancía, Leiva, and the SPLC alleged that members of Ranch Rescue held the two migrants at gunpoint, threatened them with death, and otherwise terrorized them; they also alleged that Mancía was struck on the back of the head with a handgun and that a Rottweiler dog was allowed to attack him. Mancía and Leiva also stated that the vigilantes gave them water, cookies and a blanket before letting them go after about an hour.

Later that year, SPLC, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and local attorneys filed a civil suit, Leiva v. Ranch Rescue, in Jim Hogg County, Texas, against Ranch Rescue and several of its associates, seeking damages for assault and illegal detention. In April 2005, SPLC obtained judgments totaling $1 million against Ranch Rescue member Casey James Nethercott and Ranch Rescue's leader, Torre John Foote. Those awards came six months after a $350,000 judgment in the same case and coincided with a $100,000 out-of-court settlement with Sutton. Nethercott’s 70-acre (280,000 m) Arizona property, which was Ranch Rescue's headquarters, was seized to pay the judgment. Nethercott was also charged by Texas prosecutors of pistol-whipping Mancía (which Nethercott denied). A jury deadlocked on the pistol-whipping charge but convicted Nethercott of being a felon in possession of a firearm (as he had a prior assault conviction in California). SPLC staff worked with Texas prosecutors to obtain Nethercott's conviction.

Billy Ray Johnson

The SPLC brought a civil suit on behalf of Billy Ray Johnson, a black, mentally disabled man, who was severely beaten by four white males in Texas and left bleeding in a ditch, suffering permanent injuries. Johnson was awarded $9 million in damages by a Linden, Texas jury. At a criminal trial, the four men were convicted of assault and received sentences of 30 to 60 days in county jail.

Imperial Klans of America

In November 2008, the SPLC's case against the Imperial Klans of America (IKA), the nation's second-largest Klan organization, went to trial in Meade County, Kentucky. The SPLC had filed suit for damages in July 2007 on behalf of Jordan Gruver and his mother against the IKA in Kentucky. In July 2006, five Klan members went to the Meade County Fairgrounds in Brandenburg, Kentucky, "to hand out business cards and flyers advertising a 'white-only' IKA function." Two members of the Klan started calling Gruver, a 16-year-old boy of Panamanian descent, a "spic". Subsequently, the boy, (5 feet 3 inches (1.60 m) and weighing 150 pounds (68 kg)) was beaten and kicked by the Klansmen (one of whom was 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m) and 300 pounds (140 kg)). As a result, the victim received "two cracked ribs, a broken left forearm, multiple cuts and bruises and jaw injuries requiring extensive dental repair."

In a related criminal case in February 2007, Jarred Hensley and Andrew Watkins were sentenced to three years in prison for beating Gruver. On November 14, 2008, an all-white jury of seven men and seven women awarded $1.5 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages to the plaintiff against Ron Edwards, Imperial Wizard of the group, and Jarred Hensley, who participated in the attack.

Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility

Together with the ACLU National Prison Project, the SPLC filed a class-action suit in November 2010 against the owner/operators of the private Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility in Leake County, Mississippi, and the Mississippi Department of Corrections. They charged that conditions, including under-staffing and neglect of medical care, produced numerous and repeated abuses of youthful prisoners, high rates of violence and injury, and that one prisoner suffered brain damage because of inmate-on-inmate attacks. A federal civil rights investigation was undertaken by the United States Department of Justice. In settling the suit, Mississippi ended its contract with Geo Group in 2012. Additionally, under the court decree, the Mississippi Department of Corrections moved the youthful offenders to state-run units. In 2012 Mississippi opened a new youthful offender unit at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Rankin County. The state also agreed to not subject youthful offenders to solitary confinement and a court monitor conducted regular reviews of conditions at the facility.

Polk County Florida Sheriff

In 2012 the SPLC initiated a class action federal lawsuit against the Polk County, Florida sheriff, alleging that seven juveniles confined by the sheriff were suffering in improper conditions. U.S. District Court Judge Steven D. Merryday found in favor of Sheriff Judd, who said the SPLC's allegations "were not supported by the facts or court precedence [sic]." The judge wrote that "the conditions of juvenile detention at (Central County Jail) are not consistent with (Southern Poverty's) dark, grim, and condemning portrayal." While the county sheriff's department did not recover an estimated $1 million in attorney's fees defending the case, Judge Merryday did award $103,000 in court costs to Polk County.

East Mississippi Correctional Facility

Together with the ACLU National Prison Project, the SPLC filed a class-action suit in May 2013 against Management and Training Corporation (MTC), the for-profit operator of the private East Mississippi Correctional Facility, and the Mississippi Department of Corrections. MTC had been awarded a contract for this and two other facilities in Mississippi in 2012 following the removal of GEO Group. The suit charged failure of MTC to make needed improvements, and to maintain proper conditions and treatment for this special needs population of state prisoners, who have severe mental illness. In 2015 the court granted the plaintiffs' motion for class certification.

Andrew Anglin and The Daily Stormer

In April 2017, the SPLC filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Tanya Gersh, accusing Andrew Anglin, publisher of the white supremacist website The Daily Stormer, of instigating an antisemitic harassment campaign against Gersh, a Whitefish, Montana, real estate agent.

Education

Tolerance.org

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The SPLC's initiatives include the website Tolerance.org, past winner of the international Webby Award. The site provides daily news on tolerance issues, educational games for children, guidebooks for activists, and resources for parents and teachers.

The site's Teaching Tolerance initiative is aimed at two different age groups of students, with separate materials for teachers and parents. One portion of the project is for elementary school children, providing material on the history of the civil rights movement. The center's material includes a publication entitled "A fresh look at multicultural 'American English'", which explores the cultural history of common words. A project website includes an interactive program addressing such topics as Native American school mascots, displays of the Confederate flag, and the themes of popular music and entertainment, encouraging pupils to consider racial, gender, and sexual orientation sensitivities.

A similar program aimed at middle and high school pupils includes a "Mix it Up" project, urging readers to participate in school activities involving interaction between different social groups. Other features of this project includes political activism tips and reports highlighting student activism. The SPLC puts out a monthly publication typically focusing on a minority, feminist, or LGBT youth organization. Publications such as "10 Ways to Fight Hate on Campus" suggest ideas for community activism and diversity education.

Documentaries

The SPLC also produces documentary films. Two have won Academy Awards for documentary short subjects: A Time for Justice (1994) and Mighty Times: The Children's March (2004).

Cooperation with law enforcement

The SPLC cooperates with and offers training to law enforcement agencies, focusing "on the history, background, leaders and activities of far-right extremists in the United States". The FBI has partnered with the SPLC and many other organizations "to establish rapport, share information, address concerns, and cooperate in solving problems" related to hate crimes.

Tracking of hate groups and extremists

Hate group and extremist designations

The SPLC is the organization most widely known for tracking hate groups in the United States. It maintains lists of hate groups, which they define as groups that "...have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics." It says that hate group activities may include speeches, marches, rallies, meetings, publishing, leafleting, and criminal acts such as violence. Not all groups so listed by the SPLC engage in criminal activity. The process for determining which groups are included involves "talking through" cases that are not clear-cut.

Intelligence Report

Since 1981, the SPLC's Intelligence Project has published a quarterly Intelligence Report that monitors what the SPLC considers radical right hate groups and extremists in the United States. The Intelligence Report provides information regarding organizational efforts and tactics of these groups and persons, and has been cited by scholars as a reliable and comprehensive source on U.S. right-wing extremism and hate groups. The SPLC also publishes HateWatch Weekly, a newsletter that follows racism and extremism, and the Hatewatch blog, whose subtitle is "Keeping an Eye on the Radical Right".

Two articles published in Intelligence Report have won "Green Eyeshade Excellence in Journalism" awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. "Communing with the Council", written by Heidi Beirich and Bob Moser, took third place for Investigative Journalism in the Magazine Division in 2004, and "Southern Gothic", by David Holthouse and Casey Sanchez, took second place for Feature Reporting in the Magazine Division in 2007.

Year in Hate and Extremism

Since 2001, the SPLC has released an annual issue of the Intelligence Project called Year in Hate, later renamed Year in Hate and Extremism, in which they present statistics on the numbers of hate groups in America. The current format of the report covers racial hate groups, nativist hate groups, and other right-wing extremist groups such as groups within the Patriot Movement. Jesse Walker, writing in Reason.com, criticized the 2016 report, questioning whether the count was reliable, as it focused on the number of groups rather than the number of people in those groups or the size of the groups. Walker gives the example that the 2016 report itself concedes an increase in the number of KKK groups could be due to two large groups falling apart, leading to members creating smaller local groups.

Assessment

In their study of the white separatist movement in the United States, sociologists Betty A. Dobratz and Stephanie L. Shanks-Meile referred to the SPLC's Klanwatch Intelligence Reports in saying "we relied on the SPLC and ADL for general information, but we have noted differences between the way events have been reported and what we saw at rallies. For instance, events were sometimes portrayed in Klanwatch Intelligence Reports as more militant and dangerous with higher turnouts than we observed."

In 2013, J.M. Berger wrote in Foreign Policy that media organizations should be more cautious when citing the SPLC and ADL, arguing that they are "not objective purveyors of data".

Controversy over hate group and extremist listings

The SPLC's identification and listings of hate groups and extremists has been the subject of controversy.

• In 2009, journalist Spencer S. Hsu, writing in The Washington Post, reported that the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) had complained that the Allies of America's Voice and Media Matters had used the SPLC designation to "engage in unsubstantiated, invidious name-calling, smearing millions of people in this movement." FAIR and its leadership have been criticized by the SPLC as being sympathetic to, or overtly supportive of, white supremacist and identitarian ideologies, as the group's founder has stated his goal as ensuring that the United States remains a majority-white country. Also in 2009, Vanderbilt University professor Carol Swain criticized the SPLC after it called for Lou Dobbs' ouster because of his comments suggesting possible merit in the false conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Swain described the SPLC's actions as "hounding" Dobbs and other "prominent citizens" and "wag(ing) war against conservative individuals, principles, and organizations."
• In 2010, journalist Ken Silverstein and analyst of political fringe movements Laird Wilcox said the SPLC had taken an incautious approach to assigning the labels hate group and extremist. In 2010, a group of Republican politicians and conservative organizations criticized the SPLC in full-page advertisements in two Washington, D.C., newspapers for what they described as "character assassination" because the SPLC had listed the Family Research Council as a hate group.
• In the wake of an August 2012 shooting at the headquarters of the Family Research Council (FRC), in which a security guard was wounded, some columnists criticized the SPLC's listing of the FRC as an anti-gay hate group while others defended the categorization. The SPLC defended its listing of anti-gay hate groups, stating that the groups were selected not because of their stances on political issues such as gay marriage, but rather on their "propagation of known falsehoods about LGBT people ... that have been thoroughly discredited by scientific authorities".
• In 2013, the SPLC named the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) as a "virulently anti-gay" organization. Professor Mike Adams criticized the SPLC because "Their reason for the characterization was simply that the ADF opposes efforts of the LGBT community to impose its agenda on those who disagree with them for religious reasons."
• In October 2014, the SPLC added Ben Carson to its extremist watch list, citing his association with groups it considers extreme, and his "linking of gays with pedophiles". In February 2015, the SPLC concluded its profile of Carson did not meet its standards, removed his listing, and apologized to him.
• In October 2016, the SPLC published a list of "anti-Muslim extremists", including British activist Maajid Nawaz and ex-Muslim activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali, attracting controversy. Nawaz, who identifies as a "liberal, reform Muslim", denounced the listing as a "smear", saying that the SPLC listing had made him a target of jihadists. Mark Potok of the SPLC responded "Our point is not to make these people targets for violence.... The point is to tamp down the really baseless targeting."
• In a January 2014 profile of controversial political scientist Charles Murray, the SPLC labeled Murray a "white nationalist." Following the disruption of a presentation by Murray at Middlebury College in March 2017, some commentators were critical of the SPLC's description of Murray. Others were supportive, pointing to The Bell Curve as laying the underpinnings for a resurgence of scientific racism.

Finances

The SPLC's activities including litigation are supported by fundraising efforts, and it does not accept any fees or share in legal judgments awarded to clients it represents in court. Starting in 1974, the SPLC set aside money for its endowment stating that it was "convinced that the day come when nonprofit groups no longer be able to rely on support through mail because of posting and printing costs."

The SPLC has received criticism for perceived disproportionate endowment reserves and misleading fundraising practices. In 1994, the Montgomery Advertiser ran a series reporting that the SPLC was financially mismanaged and employed misleading fundraising practices. In response, SPLC co-founder Joe Levin stated: "The Advertiser's lack of interest in the center's programs and its obsessive interest in the center's financial affairs and Mr. Dees' personal life makes it obvious to me that the Advertiser simply wants to smear the center and Mr. Dees." The series was a finalist for but did not win a 1995 Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Journalism. In 1996, USA Today called the SPLC "the nation's richest civil rights organization", with $68 million in assets at the time. Starting in the 1990s Alexander Cockburn writing in The Nation, Ken Silverstein writing in Harper's Magazine, and others have been sharply critical of the SPLC's fundraising appeals and finances, alleging that the group has used hyperbole and overstated the prevalence of hate groups to raise large amounts of money. Silverstein additionally criticized what he argued was the high level of Dees' compensation relative to other nonprofits.

Based on 2015 figures, Charity Navigator rated the SPLC an 80.44 on financial health matters, 97.00 on accountability and transparency, and 86.00 (out of 100) overall, and GuideStar gives the SPLC a Gold-level rating. The SPLC stated that during 2014 it spent about 68% of total expenses on program services. At the end of 2016, its endowment was approximately $319 million. In 2016, the SPLC did not respond to a request from the Better Business Bureau for information for a charity review.

See also

• Right Wing Watch

• Alabama
• Law

References

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34. ^ Greenhaw, Wayne (January 1, 2011). Fighting the Devil in Dixie: How Civil Rights Activists Took on the Ku Klux Klan in Alabama. Chicago Review Press. p. 234. ISBN 978-1569768259.
35. Stevens, William K. (May 15, 1981). "Judge Issues Ban on Klan Threat to Vietnamese". The New York Times. Retrieved September 18, 2007.
36. ^ Gitlin, Marty (2009). The Ku Klux Klan: A Guide to an American Subculture. ABC-CLIO. pp. 41–42. ISBN 978-0313365768.
37. ^ "Person v. Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan" Archived February 14, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, Southern Poverty Law Center website. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
38. ^ “Fighting hate in the courtroom.” SPLC Report. Special Issue, vol. 38, no. 4. Winter 2008. p. 4.
39. "Supremacist Glenn Miller gets five years in prison". Star-News. January 5, 1988. Retrieved September 10, 2012.
40. ^ "The Nation Klan Must Pay $7 Million". Los Angeles Times. February 13, 1987. Retrieved September 18, 2007.
41. "Klan Member Put to Death In Race Death". The New York Times. June 6, 1997.
42. "Five Tied to Klan Indicted on Arms Charges". The New York Times. January 9, 1987. Retrieved September 18, 2007.
43. The Fiery Cross: The Ku Klux Klan in America. Wade, Wyn Craig.
44. "Lawyer makes racists pay". USA Today. October 24, 1990. Retrieved September 18, 2007.
45. The jury divided the judgment as follows: Kyle Brewster, $500,000; Ken Mieske, $500,000; John Metzger, $1 million; WAR, $3 million; Tom Metzger, $5 million; in addition, $2.5 million was awarded for Mulugeta's unrealized future earnings and pain and suffering.
46. London, Robb (October 26, 1990). "Sending a $12.5 Million Message to a Hate Group". The New York Times. Retrieved September 18, 2007.
47. Dees & Fiffer 1993, p. 277 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFDeesFiffer1993 (help)
48. "Hate-crime case award will be hard to collect, experts say". The Press-Enterprise. August 24, 2007. Archived from the original on September 26, 2007. Retrieved August 25, 2007. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
49. "Archive – Creativity Movement". archive.adl.org. Anti-Defamation League. April 6, 2005. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
50. "Mansfield v. Church of the Creator". Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived from the original on July 13, 2007. Retrieved August 17, 2007. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
51. ^ "Mansfield v. Pierce". Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived from the original on July 13, 2007. Retrieved August 17, 2007. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
52. "Klan Must Pay $37 Million for Inciting Church Fire". The New York Times. July 25, 1998. Retrieved September 18, 2007.
53. "Macedonia v. Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan". Southern Poverty Law Center. June 7, 1996. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved September 18, 2007. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
54. "Klan Chapters Held Liable in Church Fire; Jury Awards $37.8 Million in Damages", The Washington Post July 25, 1998.
55. ^ "Keenan v. Aryan Nations". Southern Poverty Law Center. 2000. Archived from the original on July 13, 2007. Retrieved August 17, 2007. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
56. Wakin, Daniel J. (September 9, 2004). "Richard G. Butler, 86, Dies; Founder of the Aryan Nations". The New York Times. Retrieved August 22, 2007.
57. Regarding the 10 Commandments controversy see:
    • Glassroth v. Moore (PDF) (M.D. Ala. 2002).
    • "Ten Commandments judge removed from office". CNN. November 14, 2003. Retrieved September 18, 2007.
58. ^ Pollack, Andrew (August 19, 2005). "2 Illegal Immigrants WinArizona Ranch in Court". The New York Times. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
59. "Leiva v. Ranch Rescue" Archived February 14, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved November 21, 2011.
60. "The Beating of Billy Ray Johnson". Texas Monthly. February 2007. Archived from the original on August 18, 2007. Retrieved August 17, 2007. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
61. $9 million award in beating case Chicago Tribune, April 21, 2007. Retrieved December 10, 2010
62. Parker, Laura (April 26, 2007). "A jury's stand against racism reflects hope". USA Today. Retrieved August 17, 2007.
63. "Ex-jailer denies part in assault cover-up". Texarkana Gazette. April 19, 2007. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved August 17, 2007. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
64. ^ "No. 2 Klan group on trial in Ky. teen's beating – Southern Poverty Law Center hopes case will bankrupt hate group". MSNBC. Associated Press. November 11, 2008. Retrieved September 12, 2012.
65. ^ "Jordan Gruver and Cynthia Gruver vs. Imperial Klans of America". Southern Poverty Law Center. July 25, 2007. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved September 18, 2007. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
66. See: "Jury awards $2.5 million to teen beaten by Klan members". CNN. November 14, 2008. Retrieved November 18, 2008. Note: two other defendants in the civil case, Watkins and Cowles, previously agreed to confidential settlements and were dropped from the suit. See: Kenning, Chris. 2008. “$2.5 million awarded in Klan beating”, The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), November 15, 2008, p. 1.
67. Burnett, John (March 25, 2011). "Town Relies On Troubled Youth Prison For Profits". NPR.
68. "MDOC Opens Youthful Offender Unit" Archived January 30, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Press Release, 12 December 2012, Mississippi Dept. of Corrections, accessed 30 January 2016
69. C.B., et al. v. Walnut Grove Correctional Authority, et al., Southern Poverty Law Center
70. SPLC – Hughes v. Sheriff Grady Judd Case Number 8:12-cv-00568-SDM-MAP
71. "Judge rules in favot of Polk in juvenile detainee case". Orlando Sentinel. Bartow, Florida. Associated Press. April 16, 2015. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
72. Schottelkotte, Suzie (April 16, 2015). "Southern Poverty Law Center Rebuked: Court Rejects SPLC's Allegations About Jail". The Ledger. Tampa, Florida. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
73. Schottelkotte, Suzie (September 30, 2015). "Polk County Sheriff's Office won't recover $1 million in legal fees from Southern Poverty Law Center lawsuit". The Ledger. Bartow, Florida. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
74. Goode, Erica (June 7, 2014). "Seeing Squalor and Unconcern in a Mississippi Jail". New York Times. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
75. Gabriel Eber (May 30, 2013). "New Lawsuit: Massive Human Rights Violations at Mississippi Prison", ACLU. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
76. Dockery v. Epps, updated September 2015, Cases: Prisoners' Rights, ACLU official website; accessed 7 March 2017
77. Lawsuit: Neo-Nazi Led Anti-Semitic Harassment Campaign Against Montana Woman. Talking Points Memo, 18 April 2017
78. White supremacist website hit with lawsuit over harassment campaign. The Verge, 18 April 2017
79. "Tolerance.org: About us". Southern Poverty Law Center. 2005. Archived from the original on August 17, 2007. Retrieved August 17, 2007. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
80. "Teaching Tolerance". Southern Poverty Law Center. 2005. Archived from the original on August 11, 2007. Retrieved August 17, 2007. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
81. "Planet Tolerance". Southern Poverty Law Center. 2005. Archived from the original on August 11, 2007. Retrieved August 17, 2007. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
82. "Mix it up: Our Story". Southern Poverty Law Center. 2005. Archived from the original on August 18, 2007. Retrieved August 17, 2007. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
83. Willoughby, Brian (2003). 10 Ways To Fight Hate on Campus: A Response Guide for College Activists. Southern Poverty Law Center. Accessed August 17, 2015.
84. For information on training see:
    • "Law Enforcement Training | Southern Poverty Law Center". Southern Poverty Law Center.
    • Ariosto, David (August 17, 2012). "SPLC draws conservative ire". CNN. p. 2. Retrieved September 13, 2012.
    • Finley, Laura (2011). Encyclopedia of School Crime and Violence. ABC-CLIO. p. 452. ISBN 0313362386.
    • Conser, James A.; Paynich, Rebecca; Gingerich, Terry E. (2011). Law Enforcement in the United States (3 ed.). Jones & Bartlett Publishers. p. 410. ISBN 0763799386.
    • Hate Crime Statistics: A Resource Book. DIANE Publishing. 1993. p. 103. ISBN 0788105361.
85. For information about hate groups provided to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). See:
    • "Hate Crime – Overview". FBI. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
    • Michael, George (2012). Lone Wolf Terror and the Rise of Leaderless Resistance. Vanderbilt University Press. p. 32. ISBN 0826518559.
    • Hauslohner, Abigail (February 15, 2017). "Southern Poverty Law Center says American hate groups are on the rise". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 4, 2017. The FBI says it does not investigate organizations characterized by the SPLC as 'hate groups,' or others, unless it has reason to believe that a particular individual is engaged in criminal activity.
87. OCLC 70790007
88. See:
    • Intelligence Report Get Informed web page. Retrieved December 18, 2010.
    • McVeigh, Rory (March 2004). "Structured Ignorance and Organized Racism in the United States". Social Forces. 82 (3). University of North Carolina Press: 913. doi:10.1353/sof.2004.0047. JSTOR 3598361. ts outstanding reputation is well established, and the SPLC has been an excellent source of information for social scientists who study racist organizations.
    • Chalmers, David Mark (2003). Backfire: How the Ku Klux Klan Helped the Civil Rights Movement. Lantham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780742523111 OCLC 61176651 p. 188
    • Untangling the web of hate: are online "hate sites" deserving of First Amendment Protection? by Brett A. Barnett. Retrieved May 6, 2015
    • "Illinois Association for Cultural Diversity reading list". Western Illinois University. Archived from the original on May 15, 2008. Retrieved January 26, 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
89. OCLC 753911264
90. For the articles and awards see:
    • Beirich, Heidi; Bob Moser (2004). "Communing with the Council". Intelligence Report. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
    • "Green Eyeshade Awards 2004". Society of Professional Journalists. Archived from the original on January 24, 2009. Retrieved January 26, 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
    • Holthouse, David; Casey Sanchez (2007). "Southern Gothic". Intelligence Report. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved January 26, 2009.
    • "Green Eyeshade Awards 2007". Society of Professional Journalists. Archived from the original on May 14, 2008. Retrieved January 26, 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
91. "Intelligence Report, browse all issues web page". SPLC. Archived from the original on May 8, 2015. Retrieved May 6, 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
92. Walker, Jesse (February 16, 2017). "The Southern Poverty Law Center Is Counting Extremists Again: Do its numbers tell a story?". Reason Magazine. Reason Foundation. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
93. Betty A. Dobratz, Stephanie L. Shanks-Meile, The White Separatist Movement in the United States: "White Power, White Pride!", The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000, pp. 1–3.
94. Berger, J.M. (March 12, 2013). "The Hate List: Is America really being overrun by right-wing militants?". Foreign Policy. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
95. Hsu, Spencer S. (September 15, 2009). "Immigration, Health Debates Cross Paths". Washington Post. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
96. Federation for American Immigration Reform. Southern Poverty Law Center
97. Shapiro, Lila (August 24, 2009). "Major Civil Right Group Demand CNN Remove Lou Dobbs From The Air". Huffington Post. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
98. The designation also received criticism from Vanderbilt University Professor Carol Swain. See: Swain, Carol M. (August 20, 2009). "Mission Creep and the Southern Poverty Law Center's Misguided Focus". Huffington Post. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
99. See:
    • Silverstein, Ken (March 22, 2010). "'Hate,' Immigration, and the Southern Poverty Law Center". Harper's Magazine. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
    • Wilcox, Laird. "'Who Watches the Watchman?'". In Kaplan, Jeffrey; Lööw, Heléne (eds.). The Cultic Milieu: Oppositional Subcultures in an Age of Globalization. Rowman Altamira. p. 310. ISBN 978-0759102040. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
    • McCain, Robert Stacy (May 9, 2000). "Researcher Says Hate 'Fringe' Isn't as Crowded as Claimed". Washington, DC: Washington Times. via HighBeam Research. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
100. For commentary on the LGBT and FRC issues see:
     • Torres, Alec (October 11, 2013). "To the Southern Poverty Law Center, believing homosexual activity sinful is 'hate' and 'bigotry.'". National Review. Retrieved April 18, 2017. In calling the FRC a 'hate group,' the SPLC bunches it with true hate groups such as neo-Nazis, the Klan, white supremacists, and Aryan Nations. By giving the FRC and the AFA the same rhetorical treatment as groups that represent true evil, the SPLC effectively says that opinions promoted by the FRC and the AFA should not be debated – they should be destroyed.
     • Signorile, Michelangelo (August 22, 2012). "Dana Milbank, Washington Post Writer, Slams LGBT Activists, SPLC For FRC's 'Hate Group' Label". HuffPost Gay Voices. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
     • Allen, Charlotte (April 15, 2013). "King of Fearmongers: Morris Dees and the Southern Poverty Law Center, scaring donors since 1971". Weekly Standard. Retrieved March 28, 2014.
     • Milbank, Dana (August 6, 2012). "Hateful speech on hate groups". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
     • SPLC's Anti-Gay Hate List Compiled With Diligence and Clear Standards Archived September 19, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, splcenter.org. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
     • @Hatewatch (November 12, 2015). "The anti-LGBT hate group Family Research Council (@FRCdc) is running another #DumpSPLC campaign. Who is FRC: [Image with text: The hate group designation is based on the Family Research Council's distortion of known facts to demonize gay men as child molesters and similar false claims, and has nothing to do with FRC's support of "natural marriage" or it's belief that homosexuality is a sin. – Southern Poverty Law Center]" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
101. For the report, see:
     • Nelson, Leah (February 27, 2013). "The Last Word: The War On Krishna: Religious-right activists, fresh from the front lines of the War on Christmas, take on a new and dangerous pagan threat". Intelligence Report (Spring 2013). SPLC. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
102. Wong, Curtis M. (February 9, 2015). "GOP Presidential Hopeful Ben Carson Named To Southern Poverty Law Center's Anti-Gay Extremist List". The Huffington Post. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
103. See:
     • "SPLC statement on Dr. Ben Carson". Southern Poverty Law Center. February 11, 2015. Archived from the original on February 12, 2015. Retrieved April 25, 2017. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
     • "Southern Poverty Law Center apologizes to Ben Carson, takes him off 'extremist' list". Fox News Channel. February 12, 2015. Retrieved February 13, 2015. In October 2014, we posted an 'Extremist File' of Dr. Ben Carson....This week, as we've come under intense criticism for doing so, we've reviewed our profile and have concluded that it did not meet our standards, so we have taken it down and apologize to Dr. Carson for having posted it.
104. For the ‘anti-Muslim extremist’ controversy see:
     • Maajid Nawaz (October 29, 2016). "I'm A Muslim Reformer. Why Am I Being Smeared as an 'Anti-Muslim Extremist'?". The Daily Beast. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
     • "Branding Moderates as 'Anti-Muslim'". Wall Street Journal. October 30, 2016. Retrieved October 31, 2016.
     • Graham, David A. (October 29, 2016). "How Did Maajid Nawaz End Up on a List of 'Anti-Muslim Extremists'?". The Atlantic. Retrieved October 31, 2016.
     • Cohen, Nick (October 31, 2016). "The white left has issued its first fatwa". The Spectator. Retrieved October 31, 2016.
     • "SPLC receives backlash after placing activist Maajid Nawaz on 'anti-Muslim extremist' list". Yahoo! News. October 31, 2016. Retrieved November 1, 2016.
     • Smith, Lee (October 30, 2016). "A New Blacklist From the Southern Poverty Law Center Marks the Demise of a Once-Vital Organization". Hudson Institute. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
105. For the SPLC report see:
     • Charles Murray (n.d.)
     For Murray's reply, see:
     • Charles Murray (March 24, 2017). "Charles Murray's SPLC page as edited by Charles Murray". American Enterprise Institute. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
106. For criticisms, see:
     • French, David (March 26, 2017). "Charles Murray Finally Fights Back Against the SPLC". nationalreview.com. National Review. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
     • Stanger, Allison (March 13, 2017). "Understanding the Angry Mob at Middlebury That Gave Me a Concussion". New York Times Op-Ed. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
     • Allen, Charlotte (March 7, 2017). "Trust Not the Southern Poverty Law Center". The Weekly Standard. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
107. See:
     • “Scientific racism” is on the rise on the right. But it’s been lurking there for years. Hemmer, Nicole. Vox. 28 March 2017
     • From a Darling of White Supremacists, a Shrug and a “Who, Me?”. Gais, Hannah. The Baffler. 28 March 2017
108. "Endowment Supports Center's Future Work". Southern Poverty Law Center. June 2003. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved September 18, 2007.
109. Tharpe, Jim Attacking a Home-Town Icon, niemanwatchdog.org (1995).
110. Morse, Dan (February 14, 1994), "A complex man: Opportunist or crusader?", Montgomery Advertiser
111. Morse, Dan & Jaffe, Greg (February 14, 1994), "Critics question $52 million reserve, tactics of wealthiest civil rights group", Montgomery Advertiser. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
112. "Finalist: Staff of Montgomery (AL) Advertiser – For its probe of questionable management practices and self-interest at the Southern Poverty Law Center, the nation's best-endowed civil rights charity". The Pulitzer Prizes. 1995. Retrieved April 5, 2017.
113. Andrea Stone, "Morris Dees: At the Center of the Racial Storm," USA Today, August 3, 1996, A-7
114. For criticisms of SPLC's finances see:
     • Cockburn, Alexander (November 9, 1998), "The Conscience Industry", The Nation.
     • Carter, Gregg Lee (2016). Guns in American Society: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, Culture, and the Law. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). ABC-CLIO. p. 481. ISBN 978-0313386701. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
     • Silverstein, Ken (November 1, 2000), "The Church of Morris Dees: How the Southern Poverty Law Center profits from intolerance", Harper's Magazine, p. 54
     • Silverstein, Ken (March 2, 2007), "This Week in Babylon: Southern Poverty: richer than Tonga", Harper's Magazine, Archived August 4, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
     • Silverstein, Ken (March 22, 2010). "'Hate', Immigration, and the Southern Poverty Law Center". Harper's Magazine. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
     • Smith, Ron (December 3, 2008). "The truth about 'hate crimes' and the racial justice racket". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved April 21, 2017.
     • St. Clair, Jeffrey; Cockburn, Alexander (May 15, 2009). "King of the Hate Business". CounterPunch. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
     • Zinsmeister, Karl (Spring 2017). "Some People Love to Call Names The Southern Poverty Law Center's extremist list isn't a Consumer Reports guide. It's a political tool". Excellence in Philanthropy. Philanthropy Roundtable. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
     • Wypijewski, JoAnn (December 7, 2000). "Back to the Back of the Bus". thenation.com. The Nation. Retrieved April 20, 2017. The ... rejected the 's requests for $5,000 and $10,000 grants, hoarding its $120 million endowment to battle a Klan that can only fantasize about hurting people the way transit racism has.
115. For charity evaluations see:
     • "Charity Navigator Rating". Retrieved March 28, 2017.
     • "GuideStar Rating". Retrieved April 20, 2017.
     • "CharityWatch".
116. "Financial Statements" (PDF). Southern Poverty Law Center, Inc. October 31, 2016. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
117. "Charity Review: Southern Poverty Law Center". www.give.org. Better Business Bureau. November 2016. Retrieved April 19, 2017.

Further reading

• Dees, Morris, and Steve Fiffer. 1991. A Season for Justice: The Life and Times of Civil Rights Lawyer Morris Dees. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 068419189X
• Dees, Morris, and Steve Fiffer. 1993. Hate on Trial: The Case Against America's Most Dangerous Neo-Nazi. New York: Villard Books. ISBN 067940614X.
• Egerton, John (May–June 1988). "The klan basher". Foundation News. Foundation Center: 38–43. (Archived at Special Collections and University Archives Jean and Alexander Heard Library Vanderbilt University)
• Fleming, Maria, ed. 2001. A Place At The Table: Struggles for Equality in America. New York: Oxford University Press in association with the Southern Poverty Law Center. ISBN 978-0195150360.
• Leamer, Laurence (2016). The Lynching: The Epic Courtroom Battle That Brought Down the Klan. New York, NY: William Morrow. ISBN 978-0062458346. OCLC 950881846.

External links

• Official website
• Official Teaching Tolerance website

• Anti-racist organizations in the United States
• Organizations established in 1971
• 1971 establishments in Alabama
• Civil rights organizations in the United States
• African-American history of Alabama
• Southern Poverty Law Center
• Opposition to antisemitism in the United States