SPLC Uses Its Expertise In Political Targeting To Help The J6 Committee

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a left-wing advocacy organization known for labeling Christian and conservative organizations as “hate groups,” has been providing research and testimony to the Jan. 6 Committee, according to Politico.

“Over the past few months, our SPLC analysts have met with Jan. 6 Select Committee staff and submitted nearly 40 pages of written testimony and research to document the involvement of extremists in the planning and preparation for the insurrection,” Michael Lieberman, senior policy counsel on hate and extremism at the SPLC, told Politico in a statement. “Our work has helped to document coordination between Trump, his allies and two extremist groups we’ve tracked for years.”

Last month, the SPLC published an 18-page report that two of its staff members, who specialize in “tracking and exposing … hate groups and other domestic extremists,” had submitted to the committee as “under-the-radar help” in April. The report discussed the ideology, history, and activities of the Proud Boys and said the SPLC “strongly supports the essential work” of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Liz Cheney’s partisan Jan. 6 committee.

The SPLC-identified “hate groups” and “domestic extremists” aren’t just offenders such as the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis. The organization also lumps in organizations it deems anti-immigrant or anti-LGBT, leading the SPLC to lie about and foment violence against Christian groups for years.

In 2012, a man used the SPLC’s hate map to target the Family Research Council, a Christian, pro-family research and educational nonprofit, in an attempted mass shooting that wounded a security guard. According to the Washington Examiner, the man said he looked on SPLC’s website for anti-gay targets and wanted “to kill as many as possible.”

Despite the violence, the Family Research Council is still on the SPLC’s hate map, along with Alliance Defending Freedom and about 20 churches. The SPLC’s map leaves off groups such as Black Live Matter and Antifa, which have engaged in actual domestic extremism in the form of riots and violence against civilians, small businesses, and police officers. The SPLC also partners with the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, which has expressed support for Antifa’s Canadian counterpart.

Olivia Hajicek is an intern at The Federalist and a junior at Hillsdale College studying history and journalism. She has covered campus and city news as a reporter for The Hillsdale Collegian. You can reach her at [email protected].

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