Mediocre Grade for the Southern Poverty Law Center's Latest Report

Yesterday, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) released a new report titled, "The Second Wave: Return of the Militias.," http://www.splcenter.org/news/item.jsp?aid=392&splcnewsletter=newsgen-081209 In my humble opinion, it deserves a C minus for its glaring lack of rigor. Instead of providing readers with a systematic analysis and hard data supporting its warning about a growing threat, the SPLC's report was chocked full of vague generalities and unnamed sources. Most importantly, it made no serious effort to distinguish between individuals exercising their constitutional rights and groups that might actually pose a threat to society.

Clearly, the SPLC's compiled this report hastily. Further, the timing of its release is suspect. On Monday, I published a blog accusing the organization of having fallen victim to "mission creep." (Mission creep occurs when an organization strays from its original purpose and begins to engage in action antithetical to its original goals.) My biggest complaint is that the organization has strayed away from the task of targeting hate groups on a race neutral basis. Now, it uses its vast resources and public trust to pursue conservative groups and individuals in the media who cover issues the SPLC would prefer ignored. These issues include social movements and the legitimate concerns of Americans who don't normally have the ear of politicians and other elites. America will never heal herself as long as free speech is suppressed.

Follow Carol M. Swain on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CMSwain

Comments

[mauschen]

Will will the link between constitution defenders and neo-Nazi's never cease? The groups couldn't be more antithetical. A few crazy murderers have become the face of those of us who care about our rights and want to defend the constitution. It's despicable. Descrimination based on race or sex couldn't be further from the libertarian principals most of these freedom and liberty-defending groups stand for.

[RWinLA]

This matter is serious and I cannot understand why there is such apathy in the progressive community.

Since America voted for change last fall, private gun sales have gone through the roof and many stores are having trouble keeping ammunition on their shelves.

Swain says the SPLC did not, "...distinguish between individuals exercising their constitutional rights and groups that might actually pose a threat to society." Unfortunately I do not know how the Center would have done that since there are so many unwarranted paranoid restrictions on our ability to keep track of those who purchase guns and ammo. We have seen a rise of violent, deadly incidents perpetrated by individuals with a history of mental health issues over the past few years. These individuals should never have been allowed to purchase a deadly weapon.

We are witnessing a rebirth of the potential for deadly domestic terrorism that is a serious threat to all Americans in general and non-whites and non-Christians in particular. We have witnessed the murder of innocent people here in our country. These individuals were killed not by some foreign terrorists but by home-grown terrorists a majority which had mental problems and believed the hate-speak so prevalent on the streets, on the World Wide Web and even on our airwaves.

Domestic terrorism is a threat to our Republic and the SPLC is at the vanguard of the attempts to fight it and raise awareness of these insidious groups and individuals.