Fighting Hate
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DAVID SACHS
Staff- Writer
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Despite overall progress,
violent groups pose a threat.
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THE SOMERSET COLLECTION 248.643.3300
111
orris Dees, co-founder
and chief trial counsel of
the Southern Poverty
Law Center (SPLC),
told hundreds of Shabbat worshippers
at Temple Beth El on March 31 of his
legal battles against violent hate groups
around the country. Dees, whose life is
under constant threat, required extra
security for his public
appearance.
"When we hold
the Klan liable fOr
lynching a young
black man and we
end up taking the
[Klan's] national
headquarters and the
deed goes into the
name of the mother
of that dead black
man, that's on the
front page of the
New York Times and
they do movies about
it," Dees said.
The Montgomery, Morris Dees
Ala.-based SPLC also
sponsors the National Campaign for
Tolerance, an educational program to
fight hate and promote diversity. Dees
and Detroiter Rosa Parks are co-chairs.
"The good news," he said, "is that
people in this nation are saying almost
unanimously, 'We're better than all
these high-profile hate crimes. They
don't represent us.'
"We're finding people are reaching
out to victims, saying, 'We feel your
pain, we want to help you.' And
they're organizing in groups, small and
large, to try to build bridges against
these deep divides that separate us."
For example, Beth El recently host-
ed Coretta Scott King, widow of Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr., in a tribute to
its late member, Izzy Malin. He had
initiated a bridge-building exchange
with Greater New Mt. Moriah
Missionary Baptist Church of Detroit.
David Sachs can be reached at (248)
354-6060, ext. 262, or by e-mail at
dsachs @thej ewishnews. corn
4/7
2000
20
Still, Dees' major concern remains
stopping the hate crimes. He cited
some incidents: the dragging death of
a black man in Texas by Ku Klux
Klansmen, the torture-murder of a
homosexual man in Wyoming and
shooting of children at a Jewish
Community Center and killing of a
postman of Filipino origin by an
Aryan Nation member in Los Angeles.
"The FBI reports 9,000 hate crimes
in the last reporting period," Dees said.
"There are 350 hate Web
sites one click away from
the smallest child with
the most vile material
you can imagine. Racist,
antisemitic, hate-filled,
homophobic. Calling for
virtual genocide."
Dees told of a black
Ethiopian immigrant in
Portland, Ore., who was
randomly murdered by
racist skinheads. He won
a money judgment on
behalf of the victim's
family against Tom
Metzger, head of White
Aryan Resistance, who
supplied training and
encouragement to the perpetrators.
The SPLC used information gath-
ered by the local Anti-Defamation
League office to locate the star wit-
ness, a repentant racist, Dees said.
While the SPLC pursues lawsuits,
the ADL, with 30 regional offices,
works with local police agencies to
monitor grass-roots activities.
ADL Michigan Director Donald
Cohen, who attended the speech, said
his organization and Dees' "comple-
ment each other very well."
Both the SPLC and the ADL pro-
vide anti-bias education. Dees' group
supplies materials called "Teaching
Tolerance," while the ADL goes into
local schools with its "World Of
Difference Institute." ❑
The SPLC can be contacted at
400 Washington Ave.,
Montgomery, AL 36104. Its Web
site is www.splcenter.org
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