American Family Association, Family Research Council Call on Media, Big Tech to Distance Themselves from the Disgraced SPLC

TUPELO, Miss.—American Family Association (AFA, www.afa.net) and Family Research Council (FRC) have gone public with a campaign in the Wall Street Journal exposing the “hypocrisy” of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and calling upon the media and tech companies that use the SPLC’s tainted labeling of Christian groups to stop immediately.

The ad, purchased jointly between AFA and FRC and in cooperation with SPLCexposed.com, calls on Spotify, MSNBC, CNN, YouTube, Amazon and PayPal to cut all ties with the SPLC after former SPLC employees exposed the wealthy “charity” as a “con,” raising millions of dollars by expanding the definition of “hate” while operating an organization rife with racism and bigotry.

The ad quotes former SPLC employees who have spoken out about their experiences:

• “I would definitely say that there was not a single black employee with whom I spoke who was happy to be working there,” said Christine Lee, a 1989 SPLC legal intern and Harvard Law School graduate. Lee also said, “[SPLC had] “…just a way of talking about black people as jesters in a way that hasn’t—I don’t think been done in 30 or 40 years.”
• “I was surprised at some of the things I saw, because it was a civil rights organization … I’ve heard racial slurs in the place,” said Gloria Browne, former SPLC attorney.

• “Sometimes the press will describe us as monitoring hate groups, I want to say plainly that our aim in life is to destroy these groups, completely destroy them,” said Mark Potok, former SPLC senior fellow.
• “We were part of the con, and we knew it,” said Bob Moser, former SPLC writer.
• “You will never step foot in a more contradictory place as long as you live.”—The New Yorker, quoting a former SPLC employee.
• “It could be racial, sexual, financial—that place was a virtual buffet of injustices.”—The New Yorker, quoting a former SPLC employee.

“Using distortion and quotes out of context, the SPLC loves to scare Hollywood and northeastern liberals into thinking that KKK-style hatred is on the rise again, and the SPLC must keep this from happening,” said AFA President Tim Wildmon. “Evidently, the fear-mongering works; the SPLC, a 501(c)3 ‘non-profit’ has raised over $500 million, much of it sitting in offshore bank accounts.

“The SPLC is the wellspring from which the American left draws to ‘prove’ that groups or people they disagree with politically are hateful,” Wildmon continued in a column for the AFA blog site “The Stand.” “The people who write checks to the SPLC are the same people who believe that conservative Christians are what is wrong with America today.”

Added Family Research Council President Tony Perkins: “Now that employees of SPLC have pulled back the curtain on the organization’s hypocrisy, what will members of the media and big tech who aligned themselves with SPLC do? To continue to use SPLC’s politically-driven labeling will be an endorsement of SPLC’s blatant racism and bigotry.”

View the full text of the ad here.

In another column for “The Stand,” author, radio host and columnist Dr. Michael Brown also exposed the hypocrisy of the SPLC.

“The SPLC stood for justice, for righteousness, for the rights of the poor and the downtrodden,” Brown wrote. “(SPLC founder Morris) Dees would swim against the tide of societal prejudice, putting aside personal gain for the sake of ‘the disenfranchised.’

“That was a long time ago.”

View the media page for AFA here. For more information on American Family Association, visit www.afa.net or follow AFA on Facebook or on Twitter @AmericanFamAssc.

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To interview a representative from the American Family Association, contact [email protected], Jeff Tolson, 610.584.1096, ext. 108, or ext. 102.