Earlier this week, the House Judiciary Committee met for a hearing titled “The Southern Poverty Law Center: Manufacturing Hate.” It addressed allegations that the SPLC distorted civil rights policy and that they have funneled money to extremists.
According to Fox News, Republicans have accused the SPLC of mislabeling conservative and religious groups as “hate groups.”
Meanwhile, the SPLC is currently facing an 11-count indictment that includes allegations of wire fraud, false statements to a bank and money laundering.
Suzanne Bowdey, editorial director for The Washington Stand, spoke with Jody Hice on “Washington Watch.” She was amazed at the number of Democrats who continued to stand by and defend the SPLC during the hearing.
“Not one Democrat today disavowed the SPLC, despite all that it's been guilty of over the last … we're talking decade and a half. This federal indictment comes after years of serious credibility issues,” says Bowdey.
She set aside issues such as the Family Research Council (FRC) shooting, the shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) and the Charlie Kirk assassination, attacks in a climate of hate fueled by rhetoric like the hate map. Bowdey instead turned to the SPLC’s internal problems.
“As recently as 2019, a bunch of employees exposed the organization for what they called like a cesspool of racism and sexism and sexual harassment right there in their own offices,” states Bowdey.
During the hearing, she found it very disingenuous that the SPLC claimed they were important in combating antisemitism, when the Democrat party and they have done nothing of the sort.
She points out that assaults against U.S. Jews are at a 47-year high.
“What has the Democratic Party or the SPLC done to combat that? If you go to the hate map on their own website, you'll find about 1,400 organizations, and only a handful of them are antisemitic. We have a Democratic congressional candidate (Maureen Galindo) who's calling for the internment of any American who supports Israel,” says Bowdey. “I just thought that was just a shocking statement, a convenient one, but a very false statement that the SPLC does anything about that.”
The Washington Stand reported that it was because of the SPLC FRC was the target of a shooting in 2012. Floyd Corkins saw FRC labeled as a hate group by the SPLC because of FRC’s stance on biblical sexuality.
Bowdey was grateful that the hearing acknowledged Leo Johnson and his heroism in facing the shooter 14 years ago.
Johnson was the building manager who was working the front desk when the shooter came in pretending to be interested in an internship. He identified the threat and wrestled the gun from Corkins, injuring himself in the process but saving others.
“I think a lot of people think that Leo was shot, went to the hospital, came out the next week. What Leo did for us as a staff has taken literally a toll on his life,” says Bowdey.
A hero's price
She said after the initial surgery to repair his fragmented arm failed, Johnson had a second surgery that removed bone from his pelvis to try to regenerate that arm. Not only has he had months of physical therapy, but he's had blood clots, which he’s been hospitalized for, she says, and will be on blood thinners for the rest of his life.
“So as someone whose life he saved, it was very meaningful to me to see the gratitude of the Republicans on the committee and others and for him to just be recognized once again for the sacrificial love that he showed our staff,” states Bowdey.
Bowdey was on the fourth floor during the attack. She remembers hearing the gunshot, and seeing FRC President Tony Perkins take control of the situation. She speaks to the many miracles that happened leading up to and during that moment.
“The fact that Leo was at the guard desk, he was no longer our security guard. He was our building manager. The fact that Tony (Perkins, FRC’s president) and General Boykin (William Boykin, FRC’s vice president) were both in the office despite their busy schedules,” says Bowdey. “We had a group of intercessors in the building praying for us, praying for our protection literally the day before.”
