Black Lives Matter Shows Southern Poverty Law Center's Hypocrisy

By Ken Blackwell, CP Op-Ed Contributor Thursday, August 25, 2016

Ken Blackwell is the Senior Fellow for Family Empowerment at the Family Research Council, and the Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow for Public Policy at the Buckeye Institute in Columbus, Ohio

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has many allies within the Progressive movement. Funded largely by the most liberal elements of the Left, especially those within the George Soros network, like his Center for American Progress, BLM has been a major motivator for the attacks on police officers all over the country.

With chants like "Pigs in a blanket, fry-em like bacon" and "What do we want? Dead Cops!," the simple fact is that BLM has created an atmosphere of anger and hatred, and has incited violence against law enforcement officers across the country.

In no way has the killing and wounding of law enforcement officers dampened the enthusiasm of the BLM. It would seem that no reasonable person or group, regardless of how liberal, would want to be associated with any organization that advocates the killing of anyone, especially police.

None of the BLM supporters are more dangerous and hypocritical than the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). SPLC is a self-appointed "Hate Group" watchdog that produces a libelous and deceptive list of people and organizations who are deemed "haters". While there are no clearly stated criteria for groups being on this "hate" list, the SPLC's specialty is the targeting and slandering of conservatives and conservative groups.

As Laird Wilcox, an expert on extremist groups, has pointed out, "What they [the SPLC] do is a kind of bullying and stalking. They pick people who are vulnerable in terms of public opinion and simply destroy them. Their victims are usually ordinary people expressing their values, opinions, and beliefs — and they're up against a very talented and articulate defamation machine."

The hypocrisy of their support of BLM is that the SPLC conducts training for law enforcement groups in various parts of the United Sates. The SPLC also maintains a "law enforcement resources" page that — not surprisingly — claims the most credible threats to law enforcement are those arising from right-wing actors. While the SPLC is advocating violence against police by supporting BLM and its associates, they are simultaneously instructing police on how to identify "hate groups."

And the story gets worse.

Now it has been exposed through BLM's own documents that they are unashamedly anti-Semitic. The recent release of the BLM "Social and Political Policy Agenda [AC1]" accuses Israel of "genocide" and "apartheid." Despite this, SPLC continues to support BLM while BLM calls for the cessation of all foreign aid to Israel and blames this U.S. ally for atrocities against the Palestinians.

How can SPLC continue to support BLM when it is now abundantly clear that BLM is both anti-police and anti-Israel?

Part of the answer can be found in the fact that SPLC was connected in federal court in 2013 to domestic terrorism during the trial of Floyd Lee Corkins II who was convicted of attempted murder.

On August 15, 2012, Corkins entered the offices of the Family Research Council (FRC) in Washington, D.C. and shot the building manager, Leo Johnson. Corkins admitted that he targeted FRC because they were listed as an anti-LGBT "hate group" on SPLC's website. Corkins admitted that he was motivated to try and kill as many FRC employees there as possible because they did not support same sex marriage. Corkins' conviction was the first ever under the Domestic Terrorism Statute in the nation's capital.

SPLC's influence on Corkins through its reckless labeling was established in the court proceedings. Now the SPLC is once again inciting violence, this time against police, while portraying themselves as police supporters.

By endorsing BLM, the Southern Poverty Law Center has demonstrated that it has no concerns about the consequences of its actions. Now they are complicit in the targeting of police and the condemnation of Israel, yet there seems to be no "hate" label anywhere in this. In fact, the SPLC has cheered BLM, stating it is not only not a hate group, the "perception that it is … illustrates the problem. Our society … does not accept that racial injustice remains pervasive."

What hypocrisy.

Ken Blackwell is the Senior Fellow for Family Empowerment at the Family Research Council. He serves on the board of directors of the Club for Growth and the National Taxpayers Union. He is also a member of the public affairs committee of the NRA. Mr. Blackwell is also the former Mayor of Cincinnati and a former Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission.