<\/p>\n
The Southern Poverty Law Center is accused of paying a member of the chat group that organized the 2017 \u201cUnite the Right\u201d rally in Charlottesville, Va.<\/p>\n
Steve Helber\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
In this age of blatantly political prosecutions, the presumption of innocence is more important than ever. So right away, let\u2019s acknowledge that there\u2019s reason to doubt that the Southern Poverty Law Center is guilty of wire and bank fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy, as federal prosecutors allege in an 11-count indictment<\/a>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s for a jury to decide. But I do know, from firsthand experience, that the\u00a0SPLC hasn\u2019t always been a trustworthy source of information.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The Alabama-based nonprofit presents itself as a leading fighter for racial justice, and perhaps it is. But according to the indictment, the group paid leaders of the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nations and other groups millions to act as paid informants. It\u2019s accused of funding the very groups it was supposed to be fighting.<\/p>\n The SPLC concedes it paid informants and says its infiltration of hate groups was important and life-saving work. It accused the Trump administration of a politically motivated attack, which would surprise not a soul, but doesn\u2019t mean the allegations aren\u2019t, at the very least, concerning.<\/p>\n My experience with the SPLC happened about a decade ago, when the group claimed that a Klan chapter was active in\u00a0Altamont and that a hate group called the Black Riders Liberation Party was operating in Albany. Both communities were placed on the SPLC\u2019s\u00a0\u201chate map.\u201d<\/p>\n Make the Times Union a Preferred Source on Google to see more of our journalism when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Former Mayor Kathy Sheehan, who was an\u00a0SPLC donor, was able to get Albany removed from the map after the city investigated and found no evidence for the Black Riders claim. That indicated the SPLC lacked confidence in its information, which seemed to be based on little actual proof.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n And what about Altamont? Was the Klan really alive in the lovely Albany County village?<\/p>\n Well, the Loyal White Knights of the KKK were happy to have me speak<\/a> with the head of their supposed \u201cklavern\u201d in Altamont. I received a call from a man who claimed to be a local Exalted Cyclops, whatever that is, and the grand pooh-bah of the Altamont chapter.<\/p>\n When I asked about the size of the Altamont group, the Cyclops fellow claimed it had 600 members in the \u201ctri-state area.\u201d Wait, what? Sorry, Cy, but there\u2019s only one state in these parts.<\/p>\n It was quickly obvious Cyclops knew nothing about \u201cAl-ti-mint,\u201d as he kept calling it, and that he wasn\u2019t local. Mostly, he just wanted to prattle on about immigrants and the put-upon white man. The call was largely a waste of time.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n When I subsequently asked the SPLC\u00a0for proof of its claim, a spokesperson said there really wasn\u2019t any and told me the center\u2019s information mostly came from the hate groups themselves. So, if the Klan claims an Altamont chapter, the village makes the map. Cyclops’ word is proof enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n I can\u2019t think of a less reliable source\u00a0than a racist eager to hype the\u00a0size and scope of the Klan\u2019s influence, but that didn\u2019t\u00a0seem to matter to the SPLC. The spokesman, Mark Potok, essentially conceded that\u00a0attention was the most important thing.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do is educate the public that there are more of these groups than people realize,\u201d Potok told me. \u201cThe map is often shocking to people.\u201d<\/p>\n I don\u2019t doubt it. You might also be shocked if I said there\u2019s a rattlesnake under your chair, but that wouldn\u2019t make the claim accurate or justifiable.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n But the SPLC, with assets of nearly $800 million, could benefit from suggesting organized bigotry was thriving in places like Altamont, as scary claims elevated its importance. In that respect, SPLC shared an interest with the hate groups it countered.<\/p>\n \u201cThe SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence,\u201d Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n It never occurred to me that the SPLC might have paid someone in the Klan for the\u00a0Altamont\u00a0claim, but now I wonder. Among other informants, the group is alleged to have paid $270,000 to a member of a\u00a0chat group that helped plan the deadly \u201cUnite the Right\u201d rally in Charlottesville, Va.\u00a0<\/p>\n If true, the SPLC mimicked the most ethically dubious tactics of law enforcement, including the FBI\u2019s handling<\/a> of Shahed Hussain.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Many of you will know that Hussain was the confidential informant<\/a> behind a series of dubious terrorism stings, including the Albany pizza-shop scheme<\/a> that snared a Central Avenue imam and a business owner.\u00a0Hussain was also the owner of Prestige\u00a0Limousine, the company that put a dangerous stretch Ford Excursion on the road, leading\u00a0to the death of 20 innocents in a horrific Schoharie crash.<\/p>\n The problem with paying informants should be obvious. You\u2019re giving ethically challenged people an incentive to tell you something that isn\u2019t the truth. You might even be aiding and abetting their bad behavior.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve had little confidence in the Southern Poverty Law Center since my chat with Cyclops. I trust them less now.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Southern Poverty Law Center is accused of paying a member of the chat group that organized the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[17976,844,9,11,10,49,51,50,12],"class_list":["post-213560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-column","tag-latestnews","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n