A far-left Alabama nonprofit best known for inspiring a shooting at the conservative Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., in 2013, claims that “Hate Groups” are on the rise in Tennessee.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which inspires violence itself by labeling conservative nonprofits as “Hate Groups,” claimed in its 2023 annual report that the number of “Hate Groups” in Tennessee increased from 33 in 2022 to 37 in 2023.
The SPLC is also known for intentionally blurring the lines between actual haters and mainstream conservative groups.
“The organizations on the SPLC list vilify others because of their race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity—prejudices that strike at the heart of our democratic values and fracture society along its most fragile fault lines,” the SPLC report claims.
Alongside organizations like Atlantic City Skins, an actual neo-Nazi group with a tiny membership, and the Old Glory Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, a similarly small racist organization, are groups like the Institute on the Constitution.
That group’s stated mission is simply “to restore the Constitutional Republic through grassroots education.” It was endorsed by mainstream Libertarian Ron Paul. Still, the SPLC lists it as “Anti-governmental – General.”
A similar group called Tactical Civics, which advocates for enforcing Constitutional law, is also considered a “Hate Group” by the SPLC and listed under “Anti-governmental – General.”
So is the Eagle Forum, founded by Phyllis Schlafly in 1972.
That mainstream group’s mission is “is to enable conservative and pro-family men and women to participate in the process of self-government and public policy-making so that America will continue to be a land of individual liberty, with respect for the nuclear family, public and private virtue, and private enterprise.”
The SPLC also fear-mongers by inflating the number of “Hate Groups” by counting individual chapters of the same group. Moms For Liberty, for example, known for protecting children in public schools from pornographic materials, is listed six times, representing six counties where the group has chapters in Tennessee.
In 2019, the SPLC’s co-founder, Morris Dees, was forced to resign in disgrace after multiple claims of sexual harassment were levied against him. Employees noted a pattern of top-level SPLC brass covering up the incidents and even retaliating against those who filed complaints.
Dees’ resignation was also preceded by claims of a “widespread pattern of racial and gender discrimination by the center’s current leadership, stretching back many years.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on X/Twitter.
Photo “Tennessee Welcome Sign” by formulanone. CC BY-SA 2.0.
