The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is under increasing pressure to pay restitution to the Family Research Council, a Christian nonprofit targeted by an SPLC-inspired shooter.
| PULSE POINTS |
❓ WHAT HAPPENED: A Christian nonprofit is seeking restitution after becoming the target of a shooting linked to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). 📺 DETAIL: On August 15, 2012, Floyd Lee Corkins II carried out a shooting at the Family Research Council (FRC) headquarters in Washington, D.C. The FRC is a conservative nonprofit dedicated to supporting Christian values. The shooting was motivated by the far-left SPLC’s designation of the FRC as a “hate group.” The then-28-year-old Corkins entered the FRC’s headquarters with a gun, two fully-loaded 15-round magazines, a supply of 9mm ammunition, and 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches he intended to smear on the victims. After wounding the manager, he was subdued. During questioning, Corkins confirmed that he was inspired to carry out the shooting by the SPLC. “It was, uh—Southern Poverty Law lists, uh, anti-gay groups,” Corkins said. “I found them online. I did a little bit of research, went to the website, stuff like that,” said Corkins, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The FRC has since spent $8 million on security to ensure against similar attacks. However, the SPLC denies any link to the attack and refuses to stop listing the FRC as a “designated hate group.” 💬 KEY QUOTE: “It was like they were fattening [extremist groups] up, keeping them alive so that they could use them for their bigger political purpose and that was to be able to help the left advance their agenda by marginalizing and silencing conservative groups.” – Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council, on the SPLC. 🎯 IMPACT: Following the Department of Justice’s indictment of the SPLC earlier this year, the FRC is calling for restitution from the SPLC for the harm caused by the shooting. “They’re sitting on $750 million. Part of what I hope the government, the federal government, the courts get to is making them pay restitution to their victims,” said Perkins on Tuesday. Renewed attention towards the shooting is also likely to reignite criticism of the SPLC’s tactics, especially its so-called “hate map,” which has been criticized for slandering and misrepresenting conservative individuals and groups as hateful and extremist while pinpointing their approximate location in the country, jeopardizing their security. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has cut ties to the SPLC precisely due to its abandonment of civil rights protection and transformation into a “partisan smear machine,” according to FBI Director Kash Patel. 📺 FLASHBACK: In late April this year, the DOJ announced an 11-count indictment against the SPLC for alleged fraud and money laundering, including payments to neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members, and organizers of the “Unite The Right” rally in Charlottesville in 2017. The indictment alleges the SPLC funneled over $3 million to people associated with extremist groups over the past decade. The indictment has pushed the U.S. Treasury Department to revise Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reporting requirements for nonprofits. The SPLC has pleaded not guilty to all 11 charges. |
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