After reviewing the comments appended to RHinWI's post "Latest on Sikh Temple Shooting it was obvious that some introductory information concerning the mission of the Southern Poverty Law Center would be helpful to most DKOS readers. As a Lifetime Member and 24 year supporter of the Southern Poverty Law Center I felt compelled to create this diary to respectfully provide information that will serve as a brief introductory tutorial to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)r. It will be my objective to be brief, simply pointing out the functional highlights of the SPLC, all of which will follow below the orange squiggle.
First of all I would like to initailly define SPLC as an institution which is in its 5th decade of operational existence as the premier Civil Rights Organization in America. The reason why I emphasize that SPLC is an institution is due to the many services that it provides in the cause of Civil Rights in America. The SPLC was founded by civil rights lawyers Morris Dees and Joseph Levin Jr. in Montgomery Alabama in 1971. The SPLC is internationally known for tracking and exposing the activities of hate groups. The SPLC's activities can be categorized into three specific major programs.
The first and predominate activity was its highly successful legal activities which have been unquestionably reponsible for toppling institutional racism in the South. SPLC lawsuits have also been responsible for BANKRUPTING some of the nation's most violent white supremacist groups and winning justice for exploited workers, abused prison inmates, disabled children and other victims of discrimination.
The second activity which has become in effect a national institution is SPLC's monitoring of hate groups, and documentation of their activities. What originally started out as a group of file cabinets crammed into Morris Dees' office back in 1972 has now expanded into a large scale modern computer center containing thousands of files monitoring the activities of hate groups active in the United States. A partial list of the hate groups currently being monitored are Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazi, White Nationalist, Racist Skinhead, Christian Identity, Neo-Confederate, Black Separatist, Militia, and Sovereign Citizen Groups. It should come as no surprise that the FBI has often requested data support from the SPLC to assist in some of its domestic terrorism investigations. This is simply because NOWHERE in the United States does such a comprehensive monitoring/tracking databse exist for such a large number of highly diverse hate groups.
One of the commentators responding to RHinWI's post raised the question as to why doesn't the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) track these dangerous white supremacist groups such as the one that the Sikh Temple shooter belonged to? Well here is the answer. In 2007 DHS security analyst Daryl Johnson wrote a report detailing his concern over the DHS decision to reduce its monitoring of domestic hate and extremist groups operating in the United States. Mr. Johnson submitted his report but DHS ultimately reacted to criticism from conservative columnists and groups like the American Legion and withdrew the report. As a result the DHS still has virtually no monitoring of hate groups or domestic terrorists in effect at the present time. Therefore it is my assumption that the FBI again requested the services of the SPLC to supply any information pertinate to Wade Michael Page's membership in any white supremacist organizations. Obviously SPCL was able to supply the FBI with the needed data from their files. It should be noted that SPLC facilities have been ranked as the number one target for every violent hate group in America for over three decades.
The third powerful SPLC activity is their "Teaching Tolerance" program which produces - free of charge - documentary films, books, lesson plans and other materials that promote tolerance and respect in our nation's schools. The Teaching Tolerance program has recently added a program designed to increase awareness of bullying in schools in an effort to reduce the tolerance for bullying in our schools.The SPLC achieved a major milestone in its campaign to stop rampart anti-LGBT bullying and violence in schools when it reached a settlement agreement requiring Minnesota's largest school district to adopt a wide ranging plan to protect students from such bullying. It is noted that the Anoka-Hennepin School district, in the heart of Michelle Bachman's congressional district, had at least four LGBT students die by suicide over a two year period. As such it had become "ground zero" in the national fight against anti-gay bullying thereby making this recent agreement an excellent possible model for other school districts around the nation.
Finally the SPLC produces three major quarterly publications for its members and supporters. These publications are the SPLC Report, the Intelligence Report, and the Teaching Tolerance magazine. The Intelligence Report in addition to providing four or five excellent in depth articles on various hate groups activities always includes maps and listings of all current hate and extremist groups on file. As an aside the number of hate groups has been steadily increasing since the election of Barack Obama, and is currently up to 1018 active chapters around the nation.
As a final personal note I am extremely proud to be a charter member of the SPLC mainly because it has proven itself to a solid institution that in many instances stands as the lone protector of America from the horrors of domestic terrorism as an nationwide epidemic. SPLC simply does its job as an institutional protector of civil rights day in and day out, quietly and without controversial publicity. I sincerely hope that this brief introduction will inspire some folks to join those of us who while believing in the "dream" of America, recognize that we must stand "porter" at the door of liberty in order for that dream to become reality. SPLC exists solely on public donations and our contributions will help assure that the POLITICALLY INDEPENDENT monitoring of these dangerous hate groups will continue throughout these dangerous times.