Millions of taxpayer dollars have flowed to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) since 2016, according to a new report from Open the Books. While the SPLC was funneling money to the KKK and Aryan groups, your tax dollars were flowing to them. We are funding our own demise.
They have found $3.85 million that went to SPLC, which the SPLC then sent to the KKK.
A grand jury in Alabama returned an indictment on April 21, concluding there was enough evidence to go to trial on the following:
“Between 2014 and 2023, the SPLC secretly funneled more than $3 million in donated funds to individuals who were associated with various violent extremist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, and National Socialist Party of America.”
The Department of Justice alleges that the organization funneled money to extremist leaders and groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, ostensibly to act as informants. The SPLC then fundraised on the alleged resurgence of those organizations.
The same group that was paying an organizer of the deadly Charlottesville 2017 rally was also receiving money for its “Teaching Tolerance” curriculum and other K-12 materials.
Open the Books reported:
Since FY 2016, at least $1,352,655.07 worth of taxpayer funds have been paid directly to SPLC from school districts, states, cities, counties, universities, and other public entities. Most of the 63 reported payments lack an explanation, but the relatively small amounts suggest payment for materials, speakers, or licensing fees.
The watchdog suggested there is probably a lot more funding they haven’t even found yet.
A second FOIA related to their investigation of the Pentagon’s K-12 public schools turned up SPLC, too. In our report on the radical ideology that had taken hold in the school system, we reported that free resources used in teacher training or classrooms, like the radical SPLC content, can be even more problematic because they do not show up in spending data and don’t have reporting requirements
Open the Books only came upon the details of “Teaching Tolerance” and the SPLC curriculum by submitting a FOIA request and waiting ten weeks. That suggests there could be plenty more indirect support for the nonprofit that’s not readily visible to taxpayers.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that’s true.