SPLC Hate Map
On Wednesday, 47 leaders of conservative nonprofits sent an open letter to the media warning against using the notorious "hate map" put out by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). The leaders denounced any news organization that would cite the SPLC's list of "extremists" and "hate groups" as if it carried moral authority. "The SPLC is an attack dog of the political left" and should be treated as such, the leaders wrote.
"To associate public interest law firms and think tanks with neo-Nazis and the KKK is unconscionable, and represents the height of irresponsible journalism," the leaders declared. "All reputable news organizations should immediately stop using the SPLC's descriptions of individuals and organizations based on its obvious political prejudices."
The letter addressed "Members of the Media" and strongly warned against the SPLC. The leaders characterized the organization as "a discredited, left-wing, political activist organization that seeks to silence its political opponents with a 'hate group' label of its own invention and application that is not only false and defamatory, but that also endangers the lives of those targeted with it."
Leaders from across the nonprofit spectrum signed the letter, including: L. Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center; Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council (FRC); Frank Gaffney, president and CEO of the Center for Security Policy; Mat Staver, chairman of Liberty Counsel; Frank Wright, president and CEO of D. James Kennedy Ministries; Brigitte Gabriel, founder and chairman of ACT for America; J. Christian Adams, president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation; Jennifer Morse, founder and president of the Ruth Institute; and Edwin Meese III, a distinguished fellow emeritus from the Heritage Foundation.
The leaders pinned the letter to the fifth anniversary of a terrorist attack inspired by the SPLC's hate list. "On August 15, 2012, Floyd Lee Corkins II entered the Family Research Council offices in Washington, D.C. and shot and badly wounded its building manager, Leo Johnson, who stopped his intended killing spree," the letter explained. "According to his own statements to the FBI, Corkins intended to kill everyone in the building, and then go on to terrorize additional organizations."
As the letter noted, Corkins pled guilty to committing an act of terrorism and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. During an FBI interrogation, he said he targeted the FRC because of the SPLC "hate map."
"We believe the media outlets that have cited the SPLC in recent days have not intended to target mainstream political groups for violent attack, but by recklessly linking the Charlottesville melee to the mainstream groups named on the SPLC website — those that advocate in the courts, the halls of Congress, and the press for protection of conventional, Judeo-Christian values — we are left to wonder if another Floyd Lee Corkins will soon be incited to violence by this incendiary information," the leaders wrote.
The letter did not mention the more tenuous — but still concerning — connection between the SPLC and Bernie Sanders supporter James Hodgkinson, the man who shot Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) this summer. Hodgkinson "liked" the SPLC on Facebook, and the SPLC had repeatedly attacked Scalise -- even after he apologizedand distanced himself from the remarks that earned him a spot on the SPLC "extremist" list.
After mentioning Corkins, the letter went on to describe the history of the SPLC. Although the group "evolved from laudable origins battling the Klan in the 1970's, the SPLC has realized the profitability of defamation, churning out fundraising letters, and publishing 'hit pieces' on conservatives to promote its agenda and pad its substantial endowment (of $319 million)."
"Anyone who opposes them, including many Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, and traditional conservatives is slandered and slapped with the 'extremist' label or even worse, their 'hate group' designation," the leaders wrote. "At one point, the SPLC even added Dr. Ben Carson to its 'extremist' list because of his biblical views (and only took him off the list after public outcry)."
Other recent examples also back up the argument that the SPLC is carless in its defamation. Just last week, the group removed the innocent historic town of Amana Colonies from its "hate map." While the SPLC eventually removed Amana Colonies, it first defended the "hate" label because a white supremacist website claimed to have had a book club in one of the town's restaurants.
In a series of three videos, the anti-terror group Quilliam International revealed the SPLC's ever-changing reasons for listing Muslim Maajid Nawaz as an "anti-Muslim extremist." One of the reasons the SPLC gave for targeting Nawaz? His visit to a strip club for his bachelor party.
Such errors are no laughing matter. Not only has CNN recently broadcast the SPLC's "hate map" on its website and Twitter account (which still includes FRC, by the way), but two other major media outlets, ABC and NBC, parroted the SPLC's "hate group" label against ADF last month.
917. That's the number of hate groups operating in the US, according to data from the Southern Poverty Law Center cnn.it/2wSuoSN
Furthermore, some companies are already blacklisting any group on the SPLC "hate group" list. Vanco Payments just withdrew its service from the Ruth Institute, taking away that organization's ability to process donations online.
More concerning are the contributions from big influential companies like J.P. Morgan ($500,000 to the SPLC) and Apple ($1 million, with other benefits, to the organization). Companies like Lyft and MGM Resorts have also partnered with the group, and many companies match employee contributions. Pfizer, Bank of America, and Newman's Own have each contributed over $8,900 to the SPLC in recent years.
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