Letter from the Southern Poverty Law Center

Like you, my colleagues and I were deeply saddened by the murder of security guard Stephen Johns at the Holocaust Museum.

It's unfortunate that it sometimes takes a tragic event like this to focus the nation's attention on the very real threat of domestic terrorism. At the Southern Poverty Law Center, we're working hard to track and expose extremists like the anti-Semitic fanatic who lashed out last week. In fact, in the latest issue of our Intelligence Report, we warned about a dangerous resurgence of right-wing extremism since President Obama was elected.

We're also working closely with law enforcement — making sure that officers have the latest intelligence on extremists and training them to combat hate crimes and domestic terrorism. Every day, we get calls from law enforcement officials who want information about extremists in their areas.

In addition to the Holocaust Museum shooting, we've seen the murders of five police officers by extremists in recent months and the assassination of a prominent Kansas physician by an extremist tied to the anti-government militia movement.

These killers may have acted alone, but they were all influenced by the hate movement in America. What's alarming is that this movement is now being aided and abetted by far-right pundits on cable TV and talk radio, who are fanning the flames of hate with their increasingly hysterical rhetoric targeting President Obama, the government, Latino immigrants and others who are not like them. These are the same commentators who ridiculed the recent Department of Homeland Security that predicted the very kind of violent attacks we're now seeing.

We all need to speak out against hate — whether it's in the national media or in our communities. Thursday, we'll be at the National Press Club in Washington for a panel discussion about extremist rhetoric in the media.

We hope the lessons from this latest tragedy won't soon fade from our national consciousness. I can assure you that we will remain vigilant.

"So, let me flip that question back to you helpful folks: SEZ WHO ??"

Since you asked...

Morris Dees Fact Sheet (excerpt)

"'Til the Cash Comes Flowing Like a River..."

In an article titled Poverty Palace, Morris Dees told journalist John Edgerton that "I had a traditional white Southerner's feeling for segregation."...

"Morris Dees and I [Millard Fuller], from the first day of our partnership, shared one overriding purpose: to make a pile of money. We were not particular about how we did it; we just wanted to be independently rich. During the eight years we worked together we never wavered in that resolve."...

In 1961 when Freedom Riders were beaten by a white mob at a Montgomery bus station, Dees [and Fuller] expressed openly his sympathies and support for what had happened at the bus station.

When one of the men charged with beating the Freedom Riders came to their office for legal representation, Dees and Fuller took the case. The legal fee was paid by the Ku Klux Klan and the White Citizen's Council. [Fuller, Millard. Love in the Mortar Joints. New Century Press: 1980 and The Progressive, July 1988]...

Arrested and removed from court in 1975 for attempting to suborn perjury [bribing a witness] in the Joan Little murder trial in North Carolina....

Acted as a fundraiser for both Ted Kennedy's 1980 and Gary Hart's 1984 presidential campaigns and received their mailing lists as reward. [Ibid.]

Perhaps explaining the SPLC's 'Gay' rights activism, Dees was cited in 1979 by his ex-wife with a homosexual encounter during their marriage. She also cited numerous affairs with women including his daughter-in-law and underage stepdaughter....

The SPLC's fundraising practices have provoked the disapproval of watchdog groups that monitor charities: In 1993, the American Institute of Philanthropy assigned the SPLC a 'D' grade on a scale of A to F. [American Institute of Philanthropy 1993 Charity Watchdog Report]...

Today, the SPLC's treasury bulges with $120 million, and it spends twice as much on fund-raising-$5.76 million last year-as it does on legal services for victims of civil rights abuses...

"What is the Southern Poverty Law Center doing...? Mostly making money...

In 1994 the Montgomery Advertiser won a journalism award for a series of incisive and penetrating investigative articles exposing the unethical fundraising practices of Dees and the Southern Poverty Law Center...

The SPLC which has crusaded for the rights of blacks for 23 years, is controlled by whites. It has hired only two black staff attorneys in its history, both of whom left unhappy. 12 of 13 former Black employees interviewed by the Montgomery Advertiser complained they experienced or observed racial problems during their employment. Several said the SPLC was "more like a plantation."...

In 1986 the entire SPLC legal staff resigned in protest of Dees refusal to address issues such as poverty, homelessness, voter registration and other issues they considered more pertinent to poor minorities rather than to get rich fighting a Klan chimera....

Dees has actively campaigned for for laws in which "associations of two or more persons" who train in the use of firearms for defensive purposes are declared "illegal militias."...