The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the anti-“hate” organization famous for slandering conservatives, is enlisting Michelle Obama’s former chief of staff to investigate complaints of sexual harassment and racial discrimination that have rocked the left-wing group.
In a fundraising memo designed to encourage supporters to stick with them despite the scandal, Bryan Fair, chairman of the SPLC’s board of directors, attacked President Donald Trump and detailed the SPLC’s campaign to “combat the forces of hate and bigotry.”
The bigotry scandal embroiling the SPLC isn’t the only ironic twist in this story. The new hire, Tina Tchen, played a role in getting charges dropped against hate crime hoaxer Jussie Smollett.
SPLC scandal
In the memo, Fair announced that the SPLC is bringing on Tchen to address the sexual and racial harassment scandals, or what it calls “internal workplace challenges,” that have come to light within the progressive organization.
“We just launched an initiative with Tina Tchen– a former chief of staff for Michelle Obama and one of the leading voices behind the Times UP Legal Defense Fund– to advise us on workplace culture issues. Everyone who works at the SPLC deserves a workplace that reflects our highest values, and we’re committed to making sure that it happens,” he wrote.
The SPLC is struggling through a shake-up at the top of the organization over allegations of “intolerance,” sexual harassment and racial discrimination. In recent days, SPLC President Richard Cohen resigned while co-founder Morris Dees was forced out over “inappropriate conduct.”
Employees at the organization have complained of workplace discrimination that “threaten[s] the moral authority of this organization” as a stream of media reports have brought to light a culture of intolerance at the group whose sole mission, ironically, is fighting intolerance.
Interesting choice
Tchen, who is a Chicago lawyer, ironically intervened in the case of hate crime faker Smollett on his family’s behalf. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the former Obama staffer contacted Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx on February 1, three days after Smollett claimed he was attacked by Trump supporters in Chicago — and while Smollett was still considered a victim and not suspected of wrongdoing — and put her in contact with Smollett’s family.
Foxx, who ended up recusing herself, messaged Tchen back saying she tried to get Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnston to turn the investigation over to the FBI.
“Spoke to Superintendent Johnson. I convinced him to reach out to the FBI to ask that they take over the investigation. He is reaching out now and they will get to me shortly,” Foxx wrote to Tchen in an e-mail. Foxx also notified a relative of Smollett, who replied, “OMG this would be a huge victory.”
Tchen has denied trying to influence the case.
Disgraced organization
Despite the SPLC’s own bigotry scandals, the organization remains undeterred in its quest to fight “hate,” which presumably means whatever the left doesn’t like. That agenda is reflected in Fair’s memo, which focuses on the SPLC’s efforts to thwart Trump’s immigration agenda and hails its own work in fighting the “deportation machine.”
“Given the rising tide of hate and given the callousness of the Trump administration, our work is as critical as ever. I can assure you that we will continue to work as hard as we can to combat the forces of hate and bigotry and to seek justice for the most marginalized people in our country,” he wrote.
The SPLC’s decision to hire a former Obama aide who interceded on behalf of a hate crime hoaxer to investigate its own discrimination issues hardly seems out of line with the group’s long-standing, now thoroughly exposed, hypocrisy.
The SPLC is mostly known for its “hate map,” which lists “hate groups” all over the country. While the SPLC claims they’re all about fighting hate, critics exposed its classification of hate groups as unmistakably prejudiced against conservatives, cavalierly lumping mainstream conservative organizations together with neo-Nazis and the KKK.
Now, the SPLC’s long-respected moral authority on designating “hateful” groups has all but collapsed. Despite being exposed as hypocrites and frauds, though, it looks like the group intends to soldier on, deflecting attention from their own problems with a newly intensified focus on Trump.
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