Since launching its "Hate Map" in 2001, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has been targeting Christian and conservative organizations.
The American Family Association, which operates American Family Radio (AFR), has been on the interactive map since 2005 for speaking truth about the LGBTQ+ agenda. MassResistance is on the list for a similar reason.
Since 2007, the FBI has used the SPLC's "Hate Map" to inform its analysis of domestic extremism and hate crimes, but the Department of Justice and FBI Director Kash Patel have announced they are cutting all associations with the organization.
MassResistance national field Director Arthur Schaper could not be happier.
"It's about time that this happened," he tells AFN. "The hate group from Alabama has repeatedly targeted MassResistance, among many other pro-family groups."
Alliance Defending Freedom, another "anti-LGBT hate group" on the list, points out that the SPLC has become increasingly corrupt and ideologically slanted over time with its "smear tactic" to reputationally harm anyone who opposes its radical ideology.
"One of the key elements about the SPLC's modes and their mission, it's not just about intimidating people into silence, but it was all about fomenting hatred and violence against people they disagreed with," Schaper relays.
He thinks too many people have forgotten what happened to the FRC in 2012.
Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy's support for the "biblical definition of a family unit" had caused national debate and controversy at the time, and a man named Floyd Corkins planned to make a statement that would intimidate "gay rights" opponents.
"A deranged gunman saw that the Family Research Council was on the hate map, and then he went to the Washington, D.C., headquarters and shot up the place," the MassResistance spokesman notes. "And look what happened to Charlie Kirk last month – TPUSA was targeted as a hate group and promoting all of these nasty, hateful ideologies. Of course, all of this is untrue."
Despite what critics claim, Schaper says the SPLC did not even start out as a worthy cause. He describes its cofounder, Morris Dees, as "a civil rights ambulance chaser" who was looking for easy cases so that he could raise money; it had nothing to do with furthering the well-being of American citizens who were being discriminated against in southern states.
Schaper is glad to see that the FBI, government offices, shareholders, and stockholders are now telling their CEOs to stop using the SPLC as a resource.
"This is a welcome change in the right direction," he reiterates. "This puts an end to a defamatory organization which was used as a weapon to shut down, silence, and ultimately harm people who shared views that were consistent with biblical and culturally sound principles."
