I have covered the subject of today’s column before, but it’s worth revisiting now that another clear example is in the national news.
It is easy to understand. When a social movement becomes a business, the stated goal will never be achieved. It’s simple, no business, organization, or charity wants to shut down.
Keeping this from happening are the individuals employed. They depend on the income, and will do everything in their power to make sure it does not go away.
Let’s look at the civil rights movement, which was led by great figures such as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, and Thurgood Marshall. They did great work. Then it became a business.
Konstantin Kisin, on his podcast entitled Triggernometry, explains it well: “If you are an anti-racist charity, for example, the gradual elimination of racism — your stated goal — is a direct threat to your existence. This is why you must find more and more evidence of the thing you are attempting to eradicate, which is where concepts like microaggressions come from. In the absence of clear evidence of racism, new forms of racism must be found. That’s why it is wise to pay very little attention to the intentions people declare when attempting to persuade others to their cause.”
Two of King’s proteges, Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton, are a good example. At the time of his death earlier this year, Jackson’s estimated net worth was approximately $4 million. A significant portion of his wealth came from speaking engagements. In addition, he served as a U.S. Senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997, benefiting from the civil rights movement’s notoriety.
Jackson was also a leader of the National Rainbow Coalition, a charity. This most likely contributes to his wealth. He’s also the author of three books, including Legal Lynching: Racism, Injustice, and the Death Penalty.
Al Sharpton was reportedly worth $2 million at one point, believed to have come from salaries he received from his non-profit organization.
When asked, “How are we going to get rid of racism,” Morgan Freeman in 2005 said on 60 Minutes, “Stop talking about it,” stop referring to everyone by race, stop obsessing over it.” This will never happen because Civil Rights Leaders make money from racism.
An organization in the national news that professes to fight racism and extremist groups like the Ku Klux Klan is the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
In April, the Department of Justice (DOJ) brought an 11-count indictment against the SPLC, alleging that it paid $4 million to informants inside racist organizations who occupied leadership roles.
The SPLC is facing six counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to the DOJ.
In a recent House hearing on the SPLC, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan revealed allegations that an SPLC employee was in a romantic relationship with Field Source Number 9, a member of the racist National Alliance. The two individuals had a joint bank account.
Jordan said, “The SPLC paid this individual $1.2 million to foment and create the hate they told their donors they were fighting.”
These payments have been equated to firefighters paying an arsonist to start fires.
“Now, it gets worse,” said Jordon. “An individual who led the National Socialist Party, a faction of the Aryan Nation, reached out to the SPLC. He wanted out. He wanted help in leaving this racist group. What the SPLC do, they said no, no, no, stay in the group. We’ll pay you a monthly salary. We’ll reimburse you for hosting rallies and purchasing racist material. That was Field Source Number 30.”
The SPLC is also being accused of paying another source $270,000, who coordinated transportation and attended the 2017 “Unite the Right” protest in Charlottesville, North Carolina, where a young woman lost her life.
The money was a great investment. The year after Charlottesville the SPLC saw its revenue surge from $51 million to $133 million.
Going back to Freeman’s quote and the fire analogy, it appears that too many organizations cannot sit back and allow racism to die a natural death. Instead, they continually throw gasoline on the fire to keep it going.
The SPLC denies these allegations.
