When Words Turn Dangerous: SPLC Accused of Creating a Climate for Violence

For decades the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has raised money to supposedly “fight hate” while in reality only increasing animosity and division. It has often used the label “hate speech” to demonize mainstream views on the right, and more than once this rhetoric has influenced violence against conservatives.

Last week the SPLC was indicted for paying informants associated with groups like the Ku Klux Klan while publicly raising money to “dismantle” them. In the aftermath of yet another assassination attempt against President Trump, ambassadors with the Project 21 black leadership network are reflecting on the legacy of the SPLC and how its hateful rhetoric might lead to events like the one at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

 

Dr. Linda Lee Tarver, Project 21 Ambassador, who was also interviewed about the SPLC on WERC’s “Alabama Morning News with JT.”:

As former Michigan Civil Rights Commissioner, I have seen firsthand how the Southern Poverty Law Center has weaponized its “hate” designations to smear mainstream conservative and Christian organizations, fostering division rather than unity. When influential institutions label lawful viewpoints as dangerous, they create an environment where hostility is normalized and, at times, acted upon.

This kind of reckless rhetoric contributes to a climate in which political violence—like threats or attempts against leaders such as President Donald Trump—becomes more conceivable to unstable actors. Project 21 supports policy reforms to ensure accountability and to prevent ideologically-driven organizations from abusing their platforms to incite division and endanger Americans.

 

Michael Austin, Project 21 Ambassador:

The late economist Walter Williams once surmised that racism in this country might well have met its deserved end, were it not revived by those who have discovered that fear and grievance can be monetized and turned into instruments of profit and power with little regard for the wreckage left behind.

There is a grim symmetry in this incentive: When rhetoric is sharpened to inflame, should we be surprised when it drives a deranged individual to the dreadful act of attempting to assassinate a president?

We appear to have reached a moment when too many public voices choose the easy spoils of division over the harder, nobler work of genuine good.

 

April Chapman, Project 21 Ambassador:

When public rhetoric constantly frames political opponents as dangerous enemies, it can radicalize unstable people and help normalize the kind of violence we saw at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where a suspect has now been charged with attempting to assassinate President Trump.

The SPLC should be held accountable not only for its alleged financial misconduct, but for the poisonous climate it helped create by turning disagreement into demonization. Americans deserve to ask whether this organization has been fighting hate — or profiting from it.

 

Jovani Patterson, Project 21 Ambassador:

The Southern Poverty Law Center claims to fight hate, but its focus often causes the issue to grow. When an organization is built around fighting hate, it does not just identify it; it expands, redefines, and amplifies it to justify its own existence. For instance, following Charlottesville, its donations nearly tripled from $51.8 million to $133.4 million after it capitalized on the “fine people on both sides” narrative.

This raises serious questions about incentives. When the SPLC labels disagreement as hate or misleads the public to amplify a narrative, it creates an environment where individuals feel justified in targeting those they oppose. Rather than reducing division, this rhetoric actively fuels it.

 

Charisma Peoples, Project 21 Ambassador:

The organization that built its legacy fighting the KKK was secretly paying them.

The SPLC now stands federally indicted for allegedly funneling over $3 million to the very extremists it claimed to oppose, using donor money to manufacture enemies and deflect blame onto political opponents like Trump. Charlottesville stands as a prime example, where prosecutors allege the SPLC secretly paid a member of the leadership group that planned the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally.

Such tactics normalize violence — a pattern that culminated at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where a gunman opened fire, proving inflammatory narratives don’t just shape opinion — they pull triggers.

 

LaToya Nkongolo, Project 21 Ambassador:

Reports about the Southern Poverty Law Center and its alleged ties to questionable informants raise serious concerns about its credibility and reveal the hypocrisy between its stated mission and internal practices. The SPLC’s internal practices are designed to keep racism alive and well and to evoke anger in the public.

When rhetoric escalates to portraying figures like Donald Trump and his supporters as inherently dangerous, it creates a charged environment where hostility deepens and extreme reactions become more likely.

 

Brandon Brice, Project 21 Ambassador:

For years, the Southern Poverty Law Center claimed it was raising money to supposedly “fight hate” when it was actually promoting it towards certain views on the right. Perhaps if the Southern Poverty Law Center focused its efforts on lifting minorities out of poverty through programming and advocacy, as opposed to spreading division, the center would find itself creating more real impact for minority Americans living in southern States.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., an advocate for nonviolence, always understood that hate was never the answer but that economic justice was truly the key to lift the poorest Americans out from poverty. This was the primary focus of MLK’s speech to the sanitation workers when he was assassinated in Memphis, TN.

Perhaps it’s time for the SPLC to redirect its focus on promoting economic opportunity instead of another socialist-based agenda.

 

Terris E Todd, Project 21 Director of Coalitions and Outreach:

The Southern Poverty Law Center and similar organizations are typical of those who need to manufacture and preserve their “hate” campaigns to control a population of people who dare to follow. Unfortunately, the rhetoric being forced upon the American people is costing significant money and innocent lives.

This indictment against the organization is not only epic, but it also brings justice to a corrupt system and its players who have caused great harm for many years throughout our nation. We owe gratitude to the men and women who diligently brought this truth to light.

“But let justice roll down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.” (Amos 5:24)

 

Bishop Garland Hunt, Project 21 Ambassador and President of the Douglass Leadership Institute:

The 55-year-old Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is old enough to know better than to fund hate that is disguised as a fight against violent extremism.

As a pastor, the violent extremism I am most concerned about is the attack on the family. Those who stand tallest for the family — including the American Family Association, Alliance Defending Freedom, and the Family Research Council — have for years now been assaulted by the SPLC with its anti-family, anti-Biblical worldview rhetoric. It’s dangerous and has had a devastating impact on this country. These kinds of initiatives need to be exposed, defunded and fully prosecuted.

Because the Douglass Leadership Institute uplifts initiatives that strengthen the Black family, it was probably just a matter of time before we would have been in the SPLC’s crosshairs.

Wake up, America! When you attack biblical family values, you are standing against God. He will not be mocked.

 

Linda Bentley (“Linda B”), Project 21 Ambassador:

I personally believe that the SPLC, as well as other so-called activist groups like them, are constantly being used by the political left to keep division going because it’s profitable. As long as there’s a problem, then money is donated to “fix” that problem.  However, the problem is never fixed.

My belief is that a lot (or maybe most) of these groups use the money in ways other than how they pretend to. It’s a continuous unending money grab, making those at the top rich while the problem persists. Marxists like George Soros and BLM reportedly support the SPLC.

 

Dr. Takosha Swan, Project 21 Ambassador:

I wholeheartedly agree with Attorney General Blanche’s statement:

“The SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Using donor money to allegedly profit off Klansmen cannot go unchecked.

 

 

Project 21 Discusses SPLC In The Media

Additionally, Project 21 Chairman Horace Cooper appeared on both the Fox News Channel and the Fox Business Network to discuss the legacy of the SPLC.

 

Former Indiana Attorney General Curtis T. Hill, who now serves with both Project 21 and the Free Enterprise Project, was quoted in the New York Post:

Curtis T. Hill Jr., the former attorney general for Indiana who now serves as an ambassador for Project 21’s black leadership network, told The Post that the SPLC should “be taken down brick by brick” if the DOJ’s allegations are true.

“The motive is raising money for self-perpetuation. Perpetrating hate costs money. If these allegations are proven true, they’re raising money to further their own existence,” Hill said.

Hill drew a line between law enforcement using informants to infiltrate hate groups versus civil rights advocacy groups.

“If you pay a few dollars to have advance notice of a cross burning, or you have an informant who’s going to tell you about a planned violent event, that’s one thing,” he noted.

“But we’re talking about hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars going to individuals who are involved in the process of planning the hate itself. That’s a different matter.”

 

Project 21 Ambassador Craig DeLuz discussed the SPLC with OAN’s Dan Ball.

 

Finally, Project 21’s Phil Bell discussed the SPLC on the Next Steps Show.