Southern Poverty Law Centre

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is a Far-Left organization based in Montgomery, Alabama. It is known for its legal cases against so-called white supremacist groups, for its classification of so-called hate groups and other "extremist" organizations, and for promoting "tolerance" education programs. It has targetted and pursued individuals across North America, hounding their employers, advising neighbourhoods that "fascists" or "Nazis" are resident there, identifying their targets, leading to local campaigns forcing the targets to move on; destroying their lives and those of their families. It was involved in the scandalous case of Ernst Zundel resulting in his being hounded in the USA and eventually his deportation from Canada.

Founders

The SPLC was initially founded by Morris Dees, Jewish Joseph J. Levin, jnr., later a member of President Jimmy Carter's administration, and African-American Julian Bond in 1971 as a civil rights law firm in Montgomery.

Morris Dees

In 1972 Dees served as Senator George McGovern's national finance director, in 1976 as President Jimmy Carter's national finance director, and in 1980 as national finance chairman for Senator Ted Kennedy's Democratic primary presidential campaign against Carter.

In 2019, the SPLC fired Dees for undisclosed reasons, and said the firm would hire an "outside organization" to investigate its workplace practices. Before he was sacked, two dozen employees had complained to management about concerns of "mistreatment, sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and racism" which threatened SPLC's moral authority and integrity. A former employee said that Dees had a "reputation for hitting on young women" and that his ouster came "amid a staff revolt over the mistreatment of non-white and female employees" by Dees and SPLC leadership.

The television film titled Line of Fire: The Morris Dees Story (1991) dramatized his campaigns against so-called white supremacist "hate groups".

Dees's work was also featured on the National Geographic's TV network in the ridiculously named Inside American Terror in 2008.

Hate crimes

Support for censorship of "hate speech" varies greatly with race. In a 2015 survey, censorship was opposed by a majority of Whites, but supported by a majority of non-Whites, especially Blacks.