蜜桃传媒

Southern Poverty Law Center President and CEO Margaret Huang will speak about the fight for racial justice in the United States during a conference by the AFL-CIO Union Lawyers Alliance on Sunday.

The speech to the group of lawyers who represent labor unions comes shortly after a former Minneapolis police officer was found guilty in the murder of George Floyd. Despite the verdict, the historic demonstrations for racial justice that Floyd鈥檚 death sparked in 2020 powerfully symbolized the work ahead for racial justice organizations.

If that wasn鈥檛 enough, this year has seen an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol sparked by conspiracy theories about the presidential election, which were stoked by extremists and elected officials alike. Those election lies are rippling across the nation in the form of voter suppression legislation under consideration in several state legislatures.

What鈥檚 more, the nation has seen vicious hate crimes against the Asian American Pacific Islander community amid a pandemic that has also thrown into stark relief longstanding economic injustice in this country.

In other words, there鈥檚 no shortage of issues for the 蜜桃传媒 and other social justice groups to address. Ahead of the speech, Huang, who joined the 蜜桃传媒 a year ago, reflected on how the organization, now in its 50th year, will meet such challenges. That鈥檚 the topic she鈥檒l discuss at the virtual conference, 鈥淯nions and the Struggle for Racial Justice.鈥�

鈥淥ur work has always been to track and monitor the groups that promote and espouse hateful ideology,鈥� Huang said. 鈥淎nd we鈥檙e going to continue to do that. We will also increasingly, as we go forward, be doing more to support government efforts to prevent and prosecute those who are embracing hateful ideology and who are taking actions that hurt other.鈥�

The 蜜桃传媒 identified聽838聽hate groups operating across the United States聽in 2020,聽a decrease from the聽940 documented in 2019聽and聽the聽record-high聽1,020 in 2018. The number of聽hate groups in the 蜜桃传媒 census, conducted each year since 1990,聽is a barometer of extremism in the country, but not聽the only one.聽The drop聽from聽the previous year does聽not聽signal a decline in extremist activity or the聽threat of domestic terrorism.聽

As the 蜜桃传媒 has shared in its annual Year In Hate and Extremism report, the proliferation of online platforms聽that cater to extremists聽allows people to engage聽with聽potentially violent movements like QAnon and Boogaloo without being card-carrying members of a group. This phenomenon has blurred聽the boundaries of hate groups and far-right ideologies, helping coalesce a聽broader but looser movement of far-right extremists.聽

鈥淥ur litigation team and our policy team are going to be working with local, state and federal government officials to adopt policies and laws that will hold accountable far-right extremists when they break the law,鈥� she said.

The effort builds upon the 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 signature work of holding hate groups accountable for their violence by suing these organizations in civil court. The innovative work won multimillion-dollar verdicts on behalf of the victims 鈥� crushing verdicts that shuttered some of the nation鈥檚 most notorious hate groups.

Promoting prevention

However, the 蜜桃传媒 has recognized that an important key to combatting hate is prevention. That means stopping hateful ideology from taking hold by helping young people and the wider community understand the threat of extremist ideology.

That鈥檚 the goal of the 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 Learning for Justice program, Huang said. It provides free resources to caregivers and educators who work with children from kindergarten through high school. They use the materials to supplement academic curricula聽 and to create civil and inclusive communities where children and youth are respected, valued and welcome participants.

Also, the 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 Civil Rights Memorial Center (CRMC) in Montgomery, Alabama, helps educate people about the civil rights movement of the past and present. Even after the pandemic closed the CRMC to guests, a was created to continue its mission.

After the COVID-19 pandemic relegated people to their homes, where children may be spending more time online, putting them at risk for extremist recruitment, the 蜜桃传媒 and American University鈥檚 Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab provided a guide to help caregivers identify the warning signs of online radicalization in order to counter the threat. The initiative also provided webinars about countering online radicalization.

The 蜜桃传媒 recognizes that achieving its mission of being 鈥渁 catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond鈥� means ensuring that the organization is aligned internally and externally with the goal of racial justice, Huang said. It鈥檚 a critical responsibility for any civil rights organization that hopes to be effective.

At the 蜜桃传媒, the commitment to racial justice has led to the creation of the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Initiative, where representatives from the 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 offices, teams and legal practice groups implement projects and offer guidance to staff about fostering an anti-racist workplace culture.

鈥淛EDI principles should inform all aspects of our work 鈥� what issues we work on, the ways we choose to make change and how we work together,鈥� Huang said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not only about improving diversity in hiring or listening respectfully to other perspectives, but also about fundamentally shifting our culture to be more inclusive and equitable.鈥�

The JEDI initiative has already demonstrated its value in multiple ways.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a source of ideas and suggestions for how to improve our workplace,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a safe space where staff can discuss and explore issues that can be difficult to address. And it鈥檚 an implementation team that helps us to actualize our vision in ways that build understanding and commitment across the organization.鈥�

As the events over the past year have demonstrated, the 蜜桃传媒 and other civil rights organizations face formidable challenges, but it鈥檚 incumbent upon them to meet and overcome them.

鈥淩acial equity is at the heart of the 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 mission,鈥� Huang said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 why we exist.鈥�

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