Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center
February 25, 2020 12:00 ET
We just run our business like a business...Whether you're selling cakes or causes, it's all the same." -- Morris Dees, Founder and Former Chief Trial Counsel of the SPLC
The Southern Poverty Law Center began its work in the 1970's with noble intentions. But years ago, pernicious internal corruption began to undermine the organization's original mission, while contributing to a climate of fear and hostility in America. Many big corporations now regularly use the SPLC's "hate group" labels to blacklist law-abiding Americans with divergent or unpopular political views. The SPLC's false accusations have done concrete harm, now costing the organization millions in legal settlements. A deranged man even attempted to commit mass murder at the Family Research Council, having been inspired by the SPLC's rhetoric in 2012.
So how did a group dedicated to saving the innocent from the death penalty and bankrupting the Klan become a nefarious threat to America's free speech culture? How did an organization dedicated to fighting poverty wind up with millions of dollars in the Cayman Islands? How did this self-proclaimed civil rights advocacy group find itself accused of racism and sexism by its former employees?
Making Hate Pay is the inside story of how the SPLC yielded to greed, intolerance, and corruption to become the richest "civil rights" organization in the world, and what its substantial influence means for free speech in America today. The book is also an explanation as to why Corporate America, Big Tech, government, and the media are wrong to take the SPLC's disingenuous tactics at face value, and the serious damage they cause by trusting an organization that has lost its way.
Tyler O'Neil is the Senior Editor of PJ Media, and a conservative commentator who has written for numerous publications, including The Christian Post, National Review, The Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Signal, AEI's Values & Capitalism, and the Colson Center's Breakpoint.
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We just run our business like a business...Whether you're selling cakes or causes, it's all the same." -- Morris Dees, Founder and Former Chief Trial Counsel of the SPLC The Southern Poverty Law Center began its work in the 1970's with noble intentions. But years ago, pernicious internal corruption began to undermine the organization's original mission, while contributing to a climate of fear and hostility in America. Many big corporations now regularly use the SPLC's "hate group" labels to blacklist law-abiding Americans with divergent or unpopular political views. The SPLC's false accusations have done concrete harm, now costing the organization millions in legal settlements. A deranged man even attempted to commit mass murder at the Family Research Council, having been inspired by the SPLC's rhetoric in 2012. So how did a group dedicated to saving the innocent from the death penalty and bankrupting the Klan become a nefarious threat to America's free speech culture? How did an organization dedicated to fighting poverty wind up with millions of dollars in the Cayman Islands? How did this self-proclaimed civil rights advocacy group find itself accused of racism and sexism by its former employees? Making Hate Pay is the inside story of how the SPLC yielded to greed, intolerance, and corruption to become the richest "civil rights" organization in the world, and what its substantial influence means for free speech in America today. The book is also an explanation as to why Corporate America, Big Tech, government, and the media are wrong to take the SPLC's disingenuous tactics at face value, and the serious damage they cause by trusting an organization that has lost its way. Tyler O'Neil is the Senior Editor of PJ Media, and a conservative commentator who has written for numerous publications, including The Christian Post, National Review, The Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Signal, AEI's Values & Capitalism, and the Colson Center's Breakpoint. |
