MONTGOMERY, Alabama, March 26, 2019 (LifeSieNews) — The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which has long been cited by journalists and jurists as a touchstone for identifying so-called “hate groups,” is a “highly profitable scam” and “never lived up to the values it espoused.”
According to former SPLC staffer Bob Moser, who is now a reporter for Rolling Stone, the left-wing SPLC was merely “ripping off” its wealthy donors for decades. In addition, Moser charged in his article in The New Yorker Magazine on March 21 that the organization was mum about racial discrimination and sexual harassment behind doors.
The scathing article came after SPLC fired 82-year-old co-founder Morris Dees on March 13, citing unspecified internal matters. The dismissal came after multiple employees signed a letter to SPLC leaders saying they were alarmed about “allegations of mistreatment, sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and racism,” according to the Los Angeles Times. The staff revolt came after Meredith Horton, a senior attorney at SPLC, resigned in protest. But SPLC president Richard Cohen remains on staff.
Moser asked in his article, “The firing of Dees has flushed up all the uncomfortable questions again. Were we complicit, by taking our paychecks and staying silent, in ripping off donors on behalf of an organization that never lived up to the values it espoused? Did we enable racial discrimination and sexual harassment by failing to speak out?”
A woman who was one of Moser’s colleagues answered affirmatively. “It’s shameful, but when you’re there you kind of end up accepting things,” she said. “I never even considered speaking out when things happened to me! It doesn’t feel good to recognize that. I was so into the work, and so motivated by it, I kind of shrugged off what was going on.”
Moser wrote: “But nothing was more uncomfortable than the racial dynamic that quickly became apparent: a fair number of what was then about a hundred employees were African-American, but almost all of them were administrative and support staff — ’the help,’ one of my black colleagues said pointedly. The ‘professional staff’ — the lawyers, researchers, educators, public-relations officers, and fundraisers — were almost exclusively white. Just two staffers, including me, were openly gay.
“During my first few weeks, a friendly new co-worker couldn’t help laughing at my bewilderment. ‘Well, honey, welcome to the Poverty Palace,’ she said. ‘I can guaran-damn-tee that you will never step foot in a more contradictory place as long as you live.’”
Amazon, Google and other companies take recourse to SPLC listings in an effort to police so-called “hate speech.” Also, Michigan’s left-wing attorney general and state director of human rights cite SPLC for determining which “hate groups” to investigate. Among the organizations being followed by Michigan authorities is Church Militant, a Catholic media group based in Detroit. Moser reported that SPLC was aware that it was misleading donors about its mission.
A non-profit, the SPLC has reported it has more than half a billion dollars in assets, including $121 million in offshore funds. The election of President Donald Trump, Moser wrote, “opened up a gusher of donations.”
After a $50 million fundraising campaign in 2016, SPLC garnered $132 million in 2017, which included $1 million from Amal and George Clooney’s foundation, $1 million from Apple, and $500,000 from JPMorgan. Moser wrote that the SPLC endowment edged past $450 million.
Moser admitted to “the guilt you couldn’t help feeling about the legions of donors who believed that their money was being used, faithfully and well, to do the Lord’s work in the heart of Dixie. We were part of the con, and we knew it.”