On October 3rd, The Daily Signal reported that the FBI has severed all ties to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The SPLC kept a hate map of groups it considered hate groups. Oddly enough, a lot of the groups on that map were simply family-oriented or conservative political groups. One of those groups, a Christian nonprofit called the Family Research Council was attacked by a gunman in its headquarters in August 15, 2012, after he saw the group on the SPLC’s hate map. The FRC was placed on the hate map because it did not support the homosexual agenda. The attack was thwarted by FRC building manager Leo Johnson, who was shot in the arm, but survived.
The article at The Daily Signal reports:
The FBI has confirmed that it severed all ties to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a far-left activist group that puts conservatives and Christians on a “hate map” along with Ku Klux Klan chapters. The “hate map” has inspired at least one terrorist attack against a conservative organization.
“The Southern Poverty Law Center long ago abandoned civil rights work and turned into a partisan smear machine,” FBI Director Kash Patel told The Daily Signal in a statement Friday. “Their so-called hate map has been used to defame mainstream Americans and even inspired violence.”
“That disgraceful record makes them unfit for any FBI partnership,” Patel added.
The article notes:
The man who opened fire at a Republican practice session for the Congressional Baseball Game in 2017, nearly killing then-House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, had “liked” the SPLC on Facebook. The SPLC condemned that attack, as well.
The SPLC added Turning Point USA to the “hate map” mere months before an assassin with a transgender boyfriend allegedly murdered Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
The SPLC condemned the attack, but has not removed Turning Point USA from the “hate map.”
A bureau official told The Daily Signal that the FBI was aware that the “hate map” included Turning Point USA before the shooting.
The article concludes:
Big Tech companies like Amazon have used the “hate map” to screen recipients for its former AmazonSmile program, where customers could designate a portion of their purchases go to support certain charities and other nonprofits. Companies like Eventbrite, PayPal, and Hyatt Hotels have relied on the SPLC’s “hate” accusations to decide who they will allow to use their platforms and facilities. Donor networks worth billions have pledged to keep charitable funds from going to SPLC-labeled “hate groups.”
The SPLC enjoys this impact despite multiple scandals. The center fired its co-founder and saw its president resign in a 2019 racial discrimination and sexual harassment scandal. Amid that scandal, SPLC staff created a union that is part of a union organization that represents the radical anti-Israel group Jewish Voice for Peace. And amid a round of layoffs last year, the SPLC Union accused the center of engaging in “union-busting.”
Despite its penurious name, the SPLC has an endowment of more than $700 million, compensates its leaders handsomely, and possesses more than $30 million in offshore accounts, according to IRS filings.
Finally, the SPLC has troubling ties to Antifa, the loosely-organized movement of far-left agitators that President Donald Trump recently declared a domestic terrorist group.
It is good news that the government will no longer work with the SPLC to target innocent Americans and groups of Americans.