The Civil Rights Memorial at The Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery. Those of us who live here in Alabama know about the Civil Rights Monuments, the Maya Lin fountain, and the bridge, and the church, and Rosa’s bus stop. But it’s always interesting to read what outsiders take in on their first trip to the three cities That’s what…
From an SPLC News release: “The report (From The Southern Poverty Law Center and The Appleseed Center for Law and Justice) identified wildly disparate arrest rates for white and black people in certain jurisdictions. Among the 50 law enforcement agencies that arrested the most people for possession, seven arrested black people at 10 or more times the rate of white…
An organization that tracks far-right extremists says the number of Ku Klux Klan chapters in the U.S. is plummeting as a new generation of khaki-clad racists rejects hoods and robes for a “hipper” brand of hate. The Southern Poverty Law Center said in a report Wednesday that its count of Klan groups fell from 130 in 2016 to 72 last…
The Washington-Post reports former President Trump aide Steve Bannon criticised the Montgomery -based Southern Poverty Law Center during a speech to the “Values Voters Summit” in Washington: “At various points in the speech, Bannon, who runs the far-right website Breitbart News, leveled attacks at former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and the Southern Poverty Law Center — whose funders, he alleged,…
The Southern Poverty Law Center is asking Alabama to restore thousands of people to active voter status after election day confusion. In a Friday letter to Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, the organization said it believes large numbers were incorrectly moved to inactive voting status during an update of rolls. SPLC President Richard Cohen said they are worried that…
A public interest law firm says it has settled a federal lawsuit over allegations that a central Alabama city operated what amounted to a debtor’s prison. The Southern Poverty Law Center said Tuesday it had reached a preliminary agreement with the town of Alexander City. Attorneys sued the city claiming it was jailing people for being too poor to pay…
The Southern Poverty Law Center is tracking an increase in hate crimes and hate incidents since the presidential election. SPLC Senior Fellow Mark Potok says the majority of these crimes are targeting minority groups. He attributes the increase partially to Donald Trump’s victory. “Donald Trump has given these people, white supremacists, a kind of political space to operate,” he explained,…
In the wake of the attacks in Orlando, organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center are working to assist the LGBT community in their healing process. “LGBT people are by far the most targeted minority in terms of violent hate crimes in this country,” says Mike Potok, Senior Fellow with the Southern Poverty Law Center. Potok says LGBT people are…
The Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission says it has filed ethics charges against Moore, setting up a trial in the Alabama Court of the Judiciary. The SPLC filed the complaint after Moore instructed state court judges to defy a federal court order and enforce the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. They also say he commented on pending cases, among other allegations. Moore…
The Confederate Monument at the Alabama Capitol Building. Governor Bentley removed Confederate Battle Flags from the monument last year. Below is the cornerstone. The Montgomery headquartered Southern Poverty Law Center has surveyed confederate monuments and symbols in public places, and ranked the states based on the number found in each. The results? Alabama is 7th, with 107. The rest of…
