SPLC faces blowback from ‘hate map’ targets after DOJ fraud indictment
The DOJ’s fraud indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center is prompting swift reaction from groups named on its "hate map," many casting the charges as vindication after years of being labeled extremist.
After a grand jury in the Middle District of Alabama returned an 11-count indictment charging the SPLC with six counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, attention turned to groups the allegedly hate-group-linked organization itself has labeled as hate groups.
One of the more prominent names on SPLC’s "hate map" is the Family Research Council, which was the target of a 2012 attack by an armed man who allegedly found the group’s information on the SPLC’s website.
FRC President Tony Perkins said at the time that Floyd Lee Corkins II of Fairfax County — since sentenced to 25 years in prison — was responsible for wounding his building manager but believes "he was given a license by a group such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, who… labeled us a hate group because we defend the family and we stand for traditional, orthodox Christianity."
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Corkins’ signed statement of offense acknowledged he targeted FRC because of its views, including advocacy against gay marriage, and intended to kill "as many employees" as he could.
The SPLC denied the connection at the time and did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the blowback from groups featured on its hate map.
On Tuesday, Perkins called the indictment of the SPLC a "welcome development" that marks the beginning of a "long pattern of misrepresentation and harm."
"For years, the SPLC has used its platform to label and target organizations with whom it disagrees, often blurring the line between legitimate concern and ideological attack," he said, before noting Corkins’ attack.
"With over $750 million in their endowment which includes offshore accounts, the SPLC should be held responsible not only for what was done, but for the damage left behind," Perkins said.
Shannon Adcock, leader of the Midwestern parental rights group Awake Illinois, responded to SPLC’s indictment by noting it had posted "incredibly inflammatory rhetoric against us as parents simply for standing up for our parental rights and for our liberty."
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"Many of my friends across the country have been labeled by the Southern Poverty Law Center as well, while meanwhile there are legitimate terrorists that are running around this country and they are silent on those efforts while targeting law-abiding people such as Illinois and our friends Moms for Liberty, Parents of Indian Education, Courage is a Habit and many others," Adcock said. "So we celebrate this news. This is a good move by the FBI."
Adcock said she would purchase a bottle of Veuve Clicquot to celebrate.
Awake Illinois’ website used the indictment to solicit donations, suggesting new donors choose "Suck it, Southern Poverty Law Center, your hate can’t cancel us" as a reason on its dropdown menu.
PragerU, the education media nonprofit founded by conservative commentator Dennis Prager, was also featured on SPLC’s "hate map."
Marissa Streit, the group’s CEO, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that the DOJ’s indictment appears to confirm everything that people knew about the SPLC.
"The alleged shell game fraud reveals the Center as what it really is: a leftist political outfit and an actual hate group masquerading as one fighting for civil rights," Streit said, as PragerU also highlighted its own recent video analysis of the SPLC: "The Anti-Hate Group That Is A Hate Group."
"Anyone paying any attention knows its ‘hate map’ is just a list of ideas the [SPLC] wants to destroy," Streit added.
ACT for America, a group focused on combating the spread of radical Islamic ideology and threats from radical Islam, also responded via its founder Brigitte Gabriel.
"The SPLC labeled me and my organization, ACT for America a hate group year ago," Gabriel said in a statement.
Gabriel founded the group after coming to America following years of living under threat of terrorism during the Lebanese Civil War, including attacks from Muslim militants who destroyed her house.
"[SPLC] considered us America’s largest hate group. A title we were proud to hold. It’s a wonderful thing to see the SPLC finally being held accountable for their lies."
Moms for Liberty cofounder Tina Descovich said the organization’s affiliates make up more than half of the SPLC’s "hate map."
"[That’s] simply because we’re empowering parents to get involved in their school board meetings and because we recognize the difference between boys and girls," she told Fox News Digital.
"The SPLC’s hate map has been weaponized against us countless times, including by law enforcement where training manuals labeled us as an extremist group by citing the SPLC. We urge all who give to this dangerous organization to stop doing so immediately, and we call on all organizations who have used them in the past to condemn their actions."
Fox News Digital also reached out to the Center for Immigration Studies and its president, Mark Krikorian, for comment.
CIS pointed Fox News Digital to a column Krikorian wrote about being listed on the hate map in 2023, where he said the SPLC has been "lying low for some time, since the eruption of multiple humiliating scandals involving racism and sexual harassment that led to the firing of most of the group’s leadership, including founder Morris Dees."
"The appearance of its annual 'hate map' was months late, raising suspicions that there were changes afoot. No such luck — the latest anathema was just pronounced. Google it yourself, if you want to see it," he wrote.
"The Center for Immigration Studies is still there, of course; after operating for three decades, we graduated to 'hate group' status right after Trump’s election in 2016 — coincidentally."
Fox News' Kevin Ward, Alec Schemmel and David Spunt contributed to this report.