SPLC: Still Alive and Hating - New Dustin Inman Society

Morris Dees in a Southern Poverty Law Center video(SPLC/via YouTube) & NRO.

“It’s not every day that an opportunity like this comes along to get accountability from one of the worst actors on the left. Don’t squander it.”

Mark Krikorian

June 7, 2023

National Review Online

You know those websites listing celebrities you thought were dead but are still around? The Southern Poverty Law Center might as well have been on such a list.

The “civil rights” group has been lying low for some time, since the eruption of multiple humiliating scandals involving racism and sexual harassment that led to the firing of most of the group’s leadership, including founder Morris Dees.

The appearance of its annual “hate map” was months late, raising suspicions that there were changes afoot. No such luck — the latest anathema was just pronounced. (Google it yourself, if you want to see it.)

The Center for Immigration Studies is still there, of course; after operating for three decades, we graduated to “hate group” status right after Trump’s election in 2016 — coincidentally.

The other usual targets are still there as well: Alliance Defending Freedom, Center for Security Policy, Family Research Council, etc.

But in what I assume is a bid to goose donations (and add to its half-billion-dollar hoard of cash), the SPLC has added parents’-rights groups like Moms for Liberty to the hate map. (Tyler O’Neil, author of Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Daily Signal’s indefatigable SPLC-watcher, is on the case.)

But the SPLC may be facing an unprecedented challenge. Earlier this year, a defamation lawsuit against it for a “hate group” designation was, for the first time ever, not dismissed and has made it to the discovery stage. The Dustin Inman Society — run by immigration-enforcement dynamo D. A. King in Georgia — was classified as a “hate group” in 2018, right after the SPLC registered as a lobbying organization to oppose a bill King supported in the state legislature. (Coincidentally.)

Defamation is hard to prove under U.S. law. D. James Kennedy Ministriestried and failed. We at CIS tried a different tack, filing a civil RICO suitagainst SPLC, but also failed. (The multimillion-dollar settlement SPLC paid to Muslim reformer Maajid Nawaz meant his lawsuit never went to trial. The reasons for the settlement have never been revealed.)

But SPLC was sloppy in smearing the Dustin Inman Society, and King saw an opening. So last year he filed suit…

Pease read the entire post at NRO.

—>UPDATE: The liberal AJC prints a lengthy correction after demand letter from the Dustin Inman Society. More news on this coming soon.

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Daily Signal News report (‘DEFAMATORY’: Conservative Demands Swing-State Newspaper Retract ‘Hate Group’ Smear’)
on the recent AJC attack here by the great Tyler O’Neil.

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I added educational hyperlinks to the below letter – dak.

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October 18, 2024

VIA U.S. REGULAR MAIL & E-MAIL

Leroy Chapman, Jr., Editor in Chief THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION 223 Perimeter Center Pkwy NE Atlanta, Georgia 30346

Re: Demand for Retraction and Apology

Dear Mr. Chapman, Jr.:

I write on behalf of my client, the Dustin Inman Society (DIS), to demand an immediate retraction and apology for the defamatory statements published in your October 7, 2024, article titled “Democrats in this Georgia district are backing a write-in candidate” by Tia Mitchell.

Through use of internet links, the AJC article wrongfully characterizes the Dustin Inman Society as a “Marietta-based anti-immigration hate group.” This characterization is false, defamatory, and published with actual malice. The Dustin Inman Society pushes for secure borders, is not “anti-immigration” and its proprietors do not hate anyone. Rather, DIS advocates for enforcement of U.S. immigration laws and actively opposes unlawful immigration. This distinction is crucial and well-known to staff at your publication.

I paste the offending paragraph from the AJC story:

“A search of activity under her birth name, Karen Sacandy, which Stamper legally changed in 2019, showed that she previously was aligned with a Marietta-based anti-immigration hate group. The group’s website often linked to Sacandy’s activities, like a letter seeking information about the state’s Immigration Enforcement Review Board and a copy of a letter to the editor supporting legislation to prevent immigrants claiming asylum from obtaining driver’s licenses.”

HEMMER WESSELS MCMURTRY PLLC
250 Grandview Drive, Suite 500, Ft. Mitchell, KY 41017 ● Phone 859.344.1188 ● Fax 859.578.3869

October 18, 2024 Page 2

We note the AJC informs readers that the Dustin Inman Society “often” linked to Karen Sacandy/Kate Stamper activities — but produces only two occasions.

Your story, for which DIS founder and president D.A. King was not contacted, informs readers that Sacandy/Stamper “was aligned” with the Dustin Inman Society. We note that polls show that a majority of Americans oppose the federal offense of illegal immigration. Since the letter posted on the DIS site was a published missive to the editor at the Cherokee Tribune, we must ask: does this make that newspaper a “Cherokee County-based anti-immigration hate group”?

Your characterization demonstrates a reckless and vindictive disregard for the truth, rising to the level of actual malice as defined in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan. Actual malice in defamation law refers to publication of a statement with knowledge that it is false or with reckless disregard of whether it is false or not. Your repeated mischaracterization of the Dustin Inman Society, despite having been corrected on numerous occasions, clearly meets this standard.

The Dustin Inman Society’s position on immigration is clear and public:

1. It supports sustainable levels of legal immigration through established channels.

2. It opposes unlawful immigration due to various societal concerns, including: – Strain on public resources and services
– Potential and real public safety issues
– Economic impacts on low-wage American workers and America’s poor

– Challenges to the rule of law

3. The Dustin Inman Society defends legal immigrants when media attempt to blur the difference between them and illegal aliens.

Moreover, the Dustin Inman Society’s board includes lawful immigrants who have navigated the proper channels for authorized immigration. This fact alone should dispel any notion that the organization is “anti-immigration.” As he has informed you multiple times over much of the last two decades, D.A. King’s sister is a real, legal immigrant.

While we acknowledge that the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated the Dustin Inman Society as an “anti-immigrant hate group that denigrates all immigrants,” your article presents the “anti-immigration hate group” characterization as the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s independent assessment and statement of fact.

This smear is not only demonstrably false and ignores Mr. King’s many communications to you advising you of the truth, but also demonstrates an exceedingly unprofessional failure to fact-check and verify information before publication.

We demand that the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

October 18, 2024 Page 3

1. Immediately publicly retract the defaming statement in the October 7, 2024, article.

2. Publish a prominent apology, equal in visibility and placement to the original defamatory article.

3. Cease and desist from further defamatory characterizations of the Dustin Inman Society.

Failure to comply with these demands may result in further legal action. We expect your prompt attention to this matter and await your timely response.

Sincerely,

Todd V. McMurtry

cc: James Abely, Esq.