The Southern Poverty Law Center group was founded to advocate for the civil rights for the poor and minorities, and file lawsuits on behalf of victims of the Klan and other hate groups.
Today, the SPLC has been perverted into a far-leftist organization, in part thanks to its leftist zealot head Mark Potok. It brands conservative groups and websites as “hate groups” and “hate speech”. Example, you ask? Dr. Ben Carson was placed on one of the SPLC’s “Extremist” watch lists earlier this year. After an far-reaching outcry, his name was removed and an apology issued.
Their latest target? Would you believe Project Appleseed?
(SPLC) – A man with ties to militia organizations and nationwide assault rifle training program faces a murder charge in Washington state in a case that began with the attempted eviction of house squatters.
…In 2010, Faire was identified as a trainer for the “Appleseed Project,” a militia-based training program that urged every citizen to own an AR-15 assault rifle with the goal of “teaching every American how to fire a bullet through a man-size target out to 500 yards.”
Anyone who has been to an Appleseed event has probably groaned by now, and maybe even face-palmed themselves.
Jack Dailey, head of Appleseed, wrote in an email to Bob Owens of BearingArms.com that Faire was briefly an Instructor-in-training in 2009 before he was dismissed from the program.
Appleseed teaches basic rifle marksmanship skills, in addition to a teaching a history lesson about April 19, 1775 – the day the American Revolution began. The events are non-political but they do encourage people to “get off the couch” and get involved in the political process.
They don’t urge people to buy any guns – not even America’s favorite rifle, the AR-15 police patrol-type rifle. They recommend .22 caliber “Liberty Training Rifles” – typically Ruger 10/22 or Marlin 795 rimfire rifles to learn the fundamentals with affordable (where you can find it) .22 long rifle ammunition. Yes, the goal of the events is for a person to shoot to the “Rifleman’s Standard”, 4 minutes of angle. Yes, 4 minutes of angle translates to 20″ at 500 yards. I suppose you could say that’s the width of a human torso.
Fair disclosure: I’m an Appleseed Instructor-in-training.
Trust me: There’s nothing “militia” about Project Appleseed.
It’s just another freedom and liberty-promoting group smeared by the far leftists at SPLC.
As flawed as the SPLC’s “research” is, it’s still endeared by leftists in the mainstream media.
Unfortunately, their work isn’t harmless.
The North Carolina leftist moonbat who killed three Muslims earlier this year was a fan of the SPLC on his Facebook page.
An even more direct link was the Family Research Council attacker, who planned on executing multiple mass killings using the Southern Poverty Law Center’s “hate map”.
(Washington Examiner) – The Family Research Council shooter, who pleaded guilty today to a terrorism charge, picked his target off a “hate map” on the website of the ultra-liberal Southern Poverty Law Center which is upset with the conservative group’s opposition to gay rights.
[Scumbag’s name redacted] pleaded guilty to three charges including a charge of committing an act of terrorism related to the August 15, 2012 injuring of FRC’s guard. He told the FBI that he wanted to kill anti-gay targets and went to the law center’s website for ideas.
The SPLC has fallen a long way from its noble beginnings.
Potok is a true social justice warrior. In other words he is one of those smelly hippie commies from way back.
Hell, I can smell his patchouli from here.
That’s completely disgusting!
I recently attended an Appleseed event with my wife and two teenage boys. We had a wonderful time and look forward to doing it again soon. The stories about the events and people that kicked off the American Revolution were beyond engaging. I learned numerous things I’d never heard in school or since.
The stories also relate the important role that traditional American marksmanship skills played in those events. That’s the connection.
While the stories certainly were moving and stirred strong feelings, there was no political aspect to it whatsoever. Neither was there anyone “urging” ownership of AR-15s; they were never mentioned.
I highly recommend the Appleseed program. Its instructors are dedicated and talented people sharing their love of American heritage.
The SPLC truly has lost its way.
This guy’s job is to extract donations to keep the SPLC solvent. He is nothing but a screaming little harpie who will say or do anything to get another donation.
Attacking good things that don’t fit the leftist narrative. How classy.
Here’s a warm wish for ill fortune to befall Mr. Potok.
SPLC: Just another front group for far-left political propaganda.