Black Vandy law Prof: "Rather than monitoring hate groups, the Southern Poverty Law Center has become one."

Learn to listen to voice of dissent with respect

Tennessee Voices

Many of you have read the article published in last Saturday's Tennessean that liberally quotes an official at the Southern Poverty Law Center who has called me an apologist for white supremacy for a blurb I wrote endorsing a film titled A Conversation about Race. Janell Ross, the reporter who wrote the article, neglected to mention that my endorsement was written months before allegations of racism surfaced against Mr. Bodeker. She also neglected to mention that I recommended the film for generating debate in social science courses and that I qualified my endorsement after being informed of Mr. Bodeker's expressions of racism.
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Given the potential for gross misunderstanding, I would like to elevate the dialogue a bit. I am a professor of political science and law who often teaches a popular seminar on hate groups in America. Seven years ago, I wrote a book titled The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration. The book warned of rising racial and ethnic conflict because of a set of converging conditions that created a devil brew for racial unrest. Since then the conditions I warned of have heightened. My position remains that racial hatred and bigotry are real and that they can rear their ugly head against any community, including the white community.

It is also true that there are –isms within

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20091024/OPINION03/9102403...

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Mediocre Grade for the Southern Poverty Law Center's Latest Report

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carol-m-swain/mediocre-grade-f...

Yesterday, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) released a new report titled, "The Second Wave: Return of the Militias.," http://www.splcenter.org/news/item.jsp?aid=392&splcnewslette... In my humble opinion, it deserves a C minus for its glaring lack of rigor. Instead of providing readers with a systematic analysis and hard data supporting its warning about a growing threat, the SPLC's report was chocked full of vague generalities and unnamed sources. Most importantly, it made no serious effort to distinguish between individuals exercising their constitutional rights and groups that might actually pose a threat to society.

Clearly, the SPLC's compiled this report hastily. Further, the timing of its release is suspect. On Monday, I published a blog accusing the organization of having fallen victim to "mission creep." (Mission creep occurs when an organization strays from its original purpose and begins to engage in action antithetical to its original goals.) My biggest complaint is that the organization has strayed away from the task of targeting hate groups on a race neutral basis. Now, it uses its vast resources and public trust to pursue conservative groups and individuals in the media who cover issues the SPLC would prefer ignored. These issues include social movements and the legitimate concerns of Americans who don't normally have the ear of politicians and other elites. America will never heal herself as long as free speech is suppressed.

Follow Carol M. Swain on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CMSwain

* Civil Rights

Related News On Huffington Post:
[Militia Groups On ] Officials See Rise In Militia Groups Across US
WASHINGTON — Militia groups with gripes against the government are regrouping across the country and could grow rapidly, according to an

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carol-m-swain/mediocre-grade-f...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carol-m-swain/mediocre-grade-f...

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"Human beings with love and compassion are some of the most beautiful creatures in the universe... Those without are a plague on us all."

The ADL and SPLC were instrumental in both the MIAC report and the Department of Homeland Security’s report on “rightwing extremism.” In April, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano delivered a keynote speech at an ADL conference in Washington. She admitted the agency has received “training” on “hate” groups from the ADL.

The Kentucky report lists the Constitution Party in a table along with Take Back Kentucky, Ranch Rescue, and the Kentucky State Militia. “Patriot groups define themselves as opposed to the ‘New World Order’ or advocate or adhere to extreme anti-government or conspiratorial doctrines,” a caveat below the table states. “Listing here does not imply that the groups themselves advocate or engage in violence or other criminal activities, or are racist. This list was compiled from field reports, Patriot publications, the Internet, law enforcement officials and news reports. Source: Southern Poverty Law Center.”

see
http://www.dailypaul.com/node/97212

*****
"I think we are living in a world of lies: lies that don't even know they are lies, because they are the children and grandchildren of lies." ~ Chris Floyd

Re: Missouri MIAC Documents
ALIPAC is issuing a national advisory to all local, state, and Federal law enforcement agencies and officers, along with all DHS Fusion Centers, a warning against any reliance upon faulty and politicized research issued by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and Anti Defamation League (ADL).

Police were instructed to look for Americans who were concerned about unemployment, taxes, illegal immigration, gangs, border security, abortion, high costs of living, gun restrictions, FEMA, the IRS, The Federal Reserve, and the North American Union/SPP/North American Community. The 'Missouri Documents' also said potential domestic terrorists might like gun shows, short wave radios, combat movies, movies with white male heroes, Tom Clancey Novels, and Presidential Candidates Ron Paul, Bob Barr, and Chuck Baldwin!

The Southern Poverty Law Center was cited as a research source for the 'Missouri Documents'. Furthermore, the attempt of these documents to cast suspicion of violent and life threatening behavior on millions of Americans who are concerned about these issues is consistent with the regularly released political materials of both the SPLC and ADL.

see:
http://www.dailypaul.com/node/87694

*****
"I think we are living in a world of lies: lies that don't even know they are lies, because they are the children and grandchildren of lies." ~ Chris Floyd