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The Southern Poverty Law Center is based in Montgomery, Alabama in the South of the US. It was started in 1971 by Morris Dees and Joe Levin as a civil rights law firm. It is known for its tolerance education programs, its legal victories against white supremacist groups, its tracking of hate groups and its sponsorship of the Maya Lin-designed Civil Rights Memorial. The Center publishes in-depth analysis of political extremism and bias crimes in the United States in the quarterly Intelligence Report.
History
The first case the Center took on forced the local YMCA to racially integrate their athletic offerings. In 1979, the center brought its first case against a Klu Klux Klan . This was the first of many cases against the Klan. In 1983, the Klan responded by burning down the Center's offices. Several other attempts to bomb the center and kill Morris Dees have been thwarted.
In 1996 USA Today reported that the Southern Poverty Law Center was "the nation's richest civil rights organization" with $68 million in assets. In 2003, the Fairfax, Va. Journal reported that 89% of income was spent on fundraising and administrative costs. Guidestar.org states that the center has $131 million in assets on $31 million revenue.
Critics of the Center, including Laird Wilcox and Stephen Bright claim that it has exagerated the threat of white extremist groups for fundraising purposes.