From the January 2002 Idaho Observer:

Morris Dees' SPLC only targets certain colors of hate

by The Idaho Observer

The cover story for the winter, 2001 edition of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)'s quarterly “Intelligence Report,” which is “free for law enforcement only,” claims that 10 years after the passage of the federal hate crimes act, hate crime statistics do not add up. If law enforcement depends upon intelligence provided by the SPLC to tally hate crimes in the U.S., we may have our first clues as to how hate crimes are so scandalously underreported.

During the week before Christmas, Jewish Defense League (JDL) Chairman Irv Rubin, 56, and organization member Earl Krugel, 59, were arrested on charges that they planned to bomb a mosque and the office of Arab-American Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.).

The SPLC boasts an international reputation for its crusade against “hate.” According to the SPLC website, “All hate groups have beliefs or practices that attack or denigrate an entire class of people.” Under the auspices of the federal act, and according to the definition of “hate” provided by the SPLC, the Rubin/Krugel conspiracy qualifies as being motivated by “hate” because they were a couple of Jewish guys who intended to kill Arabs for no other reason than they are Arabs.

H. Millard, author of “The Outsiders,” went to the SPLC website to see what intelligence it had on the JDL. “On the SPLC website I found a list of 602 groups that the SPLC considers 'hate groups.' I thought the SPLC would have something on its website about the JDL. I was wrong,” Millard admitted.

Since Rubin and the JDL firebombed the Institute for Historical Review July 4, 1984, other intelligence networks that have been tracking terrorist organizations wreaking havoc in the U.S. have linked the hateful organization to a long list of arsons, murders and other mayhem. The American Free Press reports that the terroristic activities of the JDL are second only in America to the Puerto Rican group FALN.

“One decade after the FBI began collecting state hate crime statistics and publishing them under the federal Hate Crimes Statistics Act, the national effort to document hate-motivated crime is in shambles. A survey of 50 states by the Intelligence Report finds that the system is so gravely flawed that it may underestimate hate crimes by more than 80 percent,” said the SPLC in its intro to its cover story.

The SPLC breaks hate down into seven catagories: KKK, Neo-Nazi, Skinhead, Identity, Black Separatist, Neo-Confederate and Other. Not even under the heading of “Other” is there any reference to the JDL or any Jewish groups. “I also noticed that the SPLC does not list any Latino or Asian hate groups on their website,” said Millard.

Millard then went to the Latino, Asian and Jewish equivalent of European American websites the SPLC has identified as belonging to hate groups. Most of the European American sites dealt with constitutional issues, heritage and, according to Millard, reflected, “... the best traditions of this nation.”

“I couldn't find any calls to violence on the European American websites I checked,” he added.

In contrast, however, Latino sites in particular (not mentioned as hate sites by the SPLC) discuss potential violence and believe that a revolution must be fought to return the southwest U.S. to Mexico.

The Intelligence Report for winter, 2001

Following are quick analyses of the SPLC's editorial angle on the stories it decided to publish in its winter edition of the Intelligence Report. Without even reading the articles, the contents page is enough to see that the SPLC is interested in marginalizing the activism of salt-of-the-earth Americans to please government.

Reaping the Whirlwind: SPLC claims that, while most Americans were shocked, horrified and angered by the events of Sept 11, “the response from the radical right ranged from hearty endorsement of the strikes on 'Jew York City' to calls for expelling immigrants and threats.”

The Mouse that Roared: “Resusitating many of the anti-government themes that animated the militia movement, tiny LaVerkin, Utah, declares itself a United Nations-free zone as many of its citizens adopt the conspiratorial beliefs of the radical right.”

Untaxing America: The SPLC admits that “right-wing tax protestors” have caused the IRS to stop enforcing the income tax. Then it says, “As the history of the tax protest movement reveals, many radical ideas have now penetrated far into the mainstream.”

Conflict in Klamath: The SPLC believes that, “The short-lived battle of Klamath Falls was the latest flashpoint in a continuing low-intensity war between 'Patriot' activists and the federal government.”

We were there (The Idaho Observer, Sept., 2001). On April 6, 2001, The feds told Klamath Basin farmers who had just planted their fields and had prepared for a gorwing season, that irrigation water that was contractually available to them would not flow that year to protect two species of suckerfish that might be endangered. SPLC intelligence is not accurate. This is not a low-intensity war. The feds were in breach of contract and an entire region of this nation was turned into a dustbowl for non-scientific reasons. The water will flow next year. This is not right-wing extremism -- this is survival.

Freedom and Dissent: “As the nation struggles to balance civil liberties and police power following the September horror, it is well to remember our history of throttling dissent,” comments the SPLC invitation to get you to read the story. The SPLC then uses the Alien and Sedition Acts to justify the unconstitutional use of military force to silence those who opposed the Jay Treaty-era policies of President John Adams in 1798. The article uses examples from several tumultuous chapters of American history to justify “throttling dissent” even though historical revisionists have since proven that dissidents were justified in their opposition to the actions of the federal government -- in all cases.

Silent Thunder: SPLC intelligence indicates that, “...white supremacists are making a bid to control methamphetamine distribution.” It has been my experience, after investigating the inner workings of at least 35 counties, primarily in the Northwest, that large-scale trafficking in controlled substances is a function of the regions' elected power structures. Street-level dealers are occasionally busted so that the general public has the illusion that local authorities are cracking down on drugs.

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Editor's note: It is clear by the SPLC's actions and publications that it supports the government line regardless of whether it is right or wrong. It is also obvious that it hates only certain colors of hate while turning an editorial eye away from other, perhaps more nationally injurious, colors of hate. What is not clear is why. I am sure we all have our theories. (DWH)