The Reckoning of Morris Dees and the Southern Poverty Law Center

[Smokin Joe]

The Reckoning of Morris Dees and the Southern Poverty Law Center

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-reckoning-of-morris-dees-and-the-southern-poverty-law-center

I must have missed it, but Morris is out.

It's from a Liberal source, but the musings are interesting.

 

In the days since the stunning dismissal of Morris Dees, the co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, on March 14th, I’ve been thinking about the jokes my S.P.L.C. colleagues and I used to tell to keep ourselves sane. Walking to lunch past the center’s Maya Lin–designed memorial to civil-rights martyrs, we’d cast a glance at the inscription from Martin Luther King, Jr., etched into the black marble—“Until justice rolls down like waters”—and intone, in our deepest voices, “Until justice rolls down like dollars.” The Law Center had a way of turning idealists into cynics; like most liberals, our view of the S.P.L.C. before we arrived had been shaped by its oft-cited listings of U.S. hate groups, its reputation for winning cases against the Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Nations, and its stream of direct-mail pleas for money to keep the good work going. The mailers, in particular, painted a vivid picture of a scrappy band of intrepid attorneys and hate-group monitors, working under constant threat of death to fight hatred and injustice in the deepest heart of Dixie. When the S.P.L.C. hired me as a writer, in 2001, I figured I knew what to expect: long hours working with humble resources and a highly diverse bunch of super-dedicated colleagues. I felt self-righteous about the work before I’d even begun it.

More at the link. Posted because it is an interesting insight into an organization which has branded just about every principled Conservative organization (and some which aren't so principled) as a 'hate group' or 'potential domestic terrorists' in the halls of power in D.C. for decades.

[bigheadfred]

"a highly profitable scam"

Sums it up.

[Victoria33]

@Smokin Joe

Thanks for this information.  Makes me feel safer for my son since Morris Dees is finally gone.  Will send it to my son who was in conflict with Dees about a film son made about the KKK and Dees got the FBI to hunt for son to get that film.  Son moved around so FBI could not find him.  He was going to edit the film before he gave it to the judge in the case against the KKK.  Rice University got him a lawyer who went to the judge and she stopped the FBI and Dees. 

Once he edited the film, he gave it to the judge.  When shown in court, son stopped it and said that part was not his film - Dees had added film into his film.  The judge instructed the jury to disregard the inserted film as part of the case.  Son bested Dees, Dees lost that case, so there has been that between them since that time.  At the time, son was graduating from Rice Un., Houston, then he went to England to the National Film School, so he was beyond Dees grasp.  I hope the Southern Poverty Law Center folds completely and finally.  At one time, Free Republic was on their list of enemies.  Send me a PM if you want to know why son would not give up the film until he edited it.

[Smokin Joe]

"a highly profitable scam"

Sums it up.

I told someone who worked for a Federal Agency who had been briefed on domestic terrorists about that outfit long ago, and to do their own research, because Dees' list was flawed and inflated to keep the money rolling in.

[Formerly Once-Ler]

"a highly profitable scam"

Sums it up.

Sounds like politics in general.

[Smokin Joe]

Sounds like politics in general.

Don't leave out"

"Rules for thee, but not for me!"

[truth_seeker]

"Shakedown: the Jesse Jackson Story"

[Fishrrman]

There's little I would enjoy more than seeing this entire outfit crumble into the dirt.

[Wingnut]

Sounds like politics in general.

Leave it to you. 

[txradioguy]

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?

Yes.  Flaming hypocrites one and all.

[rustynail]

Is karma real?

[Wingnut]

Is karma real?

It is a real bitch.

[Bigun]

Couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch!  Hope they all get a long stay in the gray-bar hotel!