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SPLC Suddenly Fires Co-Founder Over "Personnel Issue"

15-3-2019 < Blacklisted News 20 663 words
 

Silicon Valley's favorite arbiter of hate, the Southern Poverty Law Center, has fired co-founder Morris Dees and scrubbed his biography from their website, according to the Montgomery Advertiser.



The 82-year-old Dees co-founded the Montgomery-based organization in 1971.


Richard Cohen, President of the SPLC, said that Dees' dismissal was effective as of Wednesday, March 13.


"As a civil rights organization, the SPLC is committed to ensuring that the conduct of our staff reflects the mission of the organization and the values we hope to instill in the world," said Cohen in a statement emailed to the Advertiser. "When one of our own fails to meet those standards, no matter his or her role in the organization, we take it seriously and must take appropriate action."


It is unknown what Dees did to warrant his dismissal, but we're guessing it's pretty bad. When the Associated Press reached out to Dees by phone, he said the matter "involved a personnel issue."


AL reporter Josh Moon tweeted on Thursday that the allegations involve sexual harassment incidents.



"Today we announced a number of immediate, concrete next steps we’re taking, including bringing in an outside organization to conduct a comprehensive assessment of our internal climate and workplace practices, to ensure that our talented staff is working in the environment that they deserve – one in which all voices are heard and all staff members are respected."



A message seeking further comment was left on Cohen’s cell phone Thursday afternoon, and additional question regarding Dees' termination have been sent to SPLC's press office.


Dees' biography appeared scrubbed from the SPLC's website as news broke of his termination on Thursday afternoon.


A Montgomery native, Dees attended Sidney Lanier High School and ran a direct sale book publishing company while attending the University of Alabama.


The attorney, a Montgomery native, has been a fixture in politics since the group's ascension, though his organization has faced scrutiny in the past. -Montgomery Advertiser



As the Daily Caller noted last year, the SPLC is widely relied upon by Silicon Valley social media platforms to police "hate speech."



Four of the world’s biggest tech platforms have working partnerships with a left-wing nonprofit that has a track record of inaccuracies and routinely labels conservative organizations as “hate groups.”


Facebook, Amazon, Google and Twitter all work with or consult the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in policing their platforms for “hate speech” or “hate groups,” a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation found.


The SPLC is on a list of “external experts and organizations” that Facebook works with “to inform our hate speech policies,” Facebook spokeswoman Ruchika Budhraja told TheDCNF in an interview.


...


Of the four companies, Amazon gives the SPLC the most direct authority over its platform, TheDCNF found.


While Facebook emphasizes its independence from the SPLC, Amazon does the opposite: Jeff Bezos’ company grants the SPLC broad policing power over the Amazon Smile charitable program, while claiming to remain unbiased.


“We remove organizations that the SPLC deems as ineligible,” an Amazon spokeswoman told TheDCNF.


Amazon grants the SPLC that power “because we don’t want to be biased whatsoever,” said the spokeswoman, who could not say whether Amazon considers the SPLC to be unbiased. -Daily Caller



In fact, Apple pledged $1 million to the organization, while J.P. Morgan has given the group $500,000. "Companies like Lyft and MGM Resorts have partnered with the group, while Pfizer, Bank of America, and Newman's Own have each contributed over $8,900 to the SPLC in recent years," according to the PJ Media report.


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