SPLC
Say it ain't so.
From the Associated Press:
Southern Poverty Law Center charged with defrauding donors with payments to extremist informants
By COLLIN BINKLEY, ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and REBECCA BOONE
Updated 5:42 PM PDT, April 21, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Southern Poverty Law Center was indicted Tuesday on federal fraud charges alleging it improperly raised millions of dollars to secretly pay leaders of the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups for inside information, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said.
The Justice Department alleges the civil rights group defrauded donors by using their money to fund the very extremism it claimed to be fighting, with more than $3 million paid to informants through a now-defunct program to infiltrate white supremacist and other extremist groups. Prosecutors allege some of the money was used by extremists to carry out other crimes, but court papers did not include specific examples.
“The SPLC was not dismantling these groups. It was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred,” Blanche said.
Here’s an SPLC FAQ:
Q. Who can forget when the SPLC was founded in 1957 by Dr. Martin Luther King, who who gave his life in 1968?
A. Well, actually, that was the SCLC, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Q. Oh, well, but who can forget when the SPLC went on the Freedom Rides in 1961 with it leaders John Lewis, James Lewis, and Stokely Carmichael?
A. Well, actually, that was SNCC, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.
Q. Huh?
Well, actually, the SPLC was founded by two white men, Morris Dees and Richard Levin, in 1971 after most of the heavy lifting of the Civil Rights era had already been done. This is not to say SPLC co-founder Morris Dees wasn’t a brave man, but let’s just say that in the 1991 TV movie hagiography about him, Morris was played by Corbin Bernsen, Arnie on and third baseman Roger Dorn who won’t get his uniform dirty in Major League:
The similarity between SPLC and SCLC and SNCC is no doubt utterly a coincidence.
Morris Dees, a junk mail genius, a Direct Marketing Hall of Famer, no doubt came up with an acronym reminiscent of the heroic age of the civil rights movement totally by accident.
Q. How many times has SPLC co-founder Morris Dees been married?
Paywall here.
