In Defiant Hill Appearance, Southern Poverty Law Center Chief Claims Hate Groups Now Infiltrate Federal Government

Hate and extremism have migrated to federal government agencies from online forums, the interim president and chief executive Southern Poverty Law Center told a House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, drawing gasps from the audience at a hearing over the group’s funding of hate groups. The SPLC, an Alabama nonprofit founded in 1971, has been at the forefront of efforts to name-and-shame what it calls right-wing extremists in America. For years, it has released an annual list of hate groups. The list is now 1,500-strong.However, the group has been accused of working closely with the Biden Justice Department to identify not just extremist groups, but organizations that promote conservative positions more broadly. That includes labeling Christian groups that oppose gay marriage and other socially conservative organizations. Its hate map includes groups such as TurningPoint USA, founded by Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated, Gun Owners of America, and Moms for Liberty. It is now facing an 11-count indictment from the Trump administration. The Justice Department alleges the organization has been funding the “leaders and organizers of racist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nation, and the National Alliance” and sometimes using shell companies to make payments. Mr. Fair has pleaded not guilty in court on behalf of the organization.In Tuesday’s contentious hearing on the Hill, the committee chairman, Congressman Jim Jordan, asked Mr. Fair why the group ended a program it initiated to infiltrate extremist groups. One such infiltration occurred at the Charlottesville, Virginia, “Unite the Right” rally in 2017, which turned deadly when a rioter charged his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one. “We stopped the program because we believe hate and extremism has migrated significantly online and into government agencies,” Mr. Fair replied.“Wow, wow, that’s big,” Mr. Jordan said, appearing to be stunned by the allegation. “That makes no sense.”Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee lobbed several questions to Mr. Fair about funneling money to extremists, identifying how the organization determines extremists, and why some extremist groups that would more closely hew with left-learning causes, did not make the list.Mr. Fair ducked many questions, saying he was “constrained” in answering questions citing the criminal case. However, he denied claims that the SPLC has been artificially elevating the domestic extremist threat and misleading its donors. “Many groups and some in this room have misrepresented our work, including our confidential informant program, regularly repeating false allegations,” Mr. Fair said. “Some say we’ve lost our way. But we have never lost our north star – a fair and just society for every person. All our programs advance that mission.”The SPLC, founded in 1971, began as a civil rights organization focused on mounting legal campaigns and compiling dossiers on the Ku Klux Klan. Beginning in the mid-1980s, the group expanded its tracking efforts beyond white supremacist groups to what it called “right-wing extremism” across the United States.In April, when announcing criminal charges against the organization, the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, declared at a news conference that the SPLC was “manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred.”On Tuesday, Republican lawmakers piled on. “The SPLC funneled millions to the very groups they claimed to fight in order to fundraise. Their $730 million endowment is built on a lie that continues to divide America as a result,” Congresswoman Harriet Hageman said.“We don’t fund hate groups,” Mr. Fair told Ms. Hageman.“Except the $4.1 million that you gave to the KKK, the National Socialist Movement, and the Aryan Nations,” Ms. Hageman replied.“We don’t target groups based on their religion. It’s based on what they say about other people,” Mr. Fair told Congressman Chip Roy. Mr. Roy had noted that he could not find any Islamic extremist groups on the group’s “hate map.”Alveda King, a niece of Martin Luther King Jr. — a supporter of President Trump whom the SPLC has also named an extremist — also testified at the hearing. “Americans who faithfully donate their hard-earned money—many of them senior citizens who sincerely want to combat racism and hatred—deserve transparency and accountability about how those funds are being used,” Ms. King said.“America does not need more manufactured racial tension. We do not need more labels with the sole intention to drive us apart. We do not need more lists that place citizens under suspicion because they hold sincere beliefs about faith, family, life, or public policy,” she added.

In Defiant Hill Appearance, Southern Poverty Law Center Chief Claims Hate Groups Now Infiltrate Federal Government

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