GEORGE McGOVERN

MISSOULA, MONTANA

D ear Friend,

I am writing you today, not for some political cause, but to seek your immediate
help fo r a good friend in Alabama in his dangerous and courageous fight to p ut hate
groups out of business,

My friend, Morris Dees, was a young lawyer back in 971~henI ran for president.
H e took two years of his life to direct the successful effort that brought more than
600,000 caring Americans into that campaign.

Since then, his highly successful lawsuits against the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan
Nations, and other hate groups has made him their No. 1 enemy. More than two dozen
people have been convicted in connections with plots to kill Morris or blow up his building.

Klans man burned. his law offices attempting to destroy evidence he had gathered
showing Klan violence. The leader got a IS-year prison sentence.

Morris could have played it safe, but he left behind a successful business career and
fo unded the renowned Southern Poverty Law Center to carryon his fight for jus tice.

You may have seen the recent Ted Koppel documentary about the $7 million
verdict Morris won against the United Klans for lynching a black youth. This was the
same hate group whose members bombed the Birmingham church, killing four little
girls. Morris' lawsuit put this group of business.

Morris and SPLC have crippled or bankrupted a dozen hate groups and also helped
law enforcement convict a number of violent domestic terroris ts. But, as the shooting at
the U .S. H olocaust Memorial Museum and th e arrest of nine members of the Hutaree
militia group who plotted to kill hundreds of police officers show, their work is far from
over. That's why I urge you to help them now.

The number of hate groups now stands at 932, a more than 50 percent increase since
2000, and the number of ai1tigovernmenr "patriot" and militia groups has nearly tripled
in the last year alone. Anger at the government, resen tment of a black president, and
bitterness over the dismal economy are likely to continue to fuel their growth and violence.

In November 2008, Morris and his colleagues at the Southern Poverty Law Center
won a $2.5 million verdict against the leaders of the Imperial Klans of America (IKA)
for the savage beating of a Kentucky teenager. Shortly before Morris began this case, an
lKA splinter-group member was arrested for a plot to kill President Obama and dozens of
African-American students.

In tes timony to Congress, FBI Director Robert Mueller recently reported that
domestic "home-grown and lone-wolf extremists" now represent as serious a threat as
al-Qaeda and its affiliates.

T he Secret Service and all major enforcement agencies depend on SPLC for
timely information about hate groups and for much-needed training. CBS News once
reported that Morris' group has "cracked cases that even FBI couldn't solve.

SPLC no t only sues hate groups but also supplies mo re than 50 000 schools
nationwide with free education materials as part of its Teaching Tolerance project. Morris
believes that because young people commit most hate crimes, it's important to teach
them acceptance and tolerance .

Bill Moyers has called Teaching Tolerance bold move into America's srooms to
curb the rising tide ofracial hatred. Many more teachers faced with steep budget cutS,
will look to SPLC for its free, award-winning resources .

I can assure you that Morris and the Southern Poverty Law Center are do ing
important work helping those with few champions. As long as hate and extremist groups
seek to divide us, SPLC's unique work will be vital to our nation.

My fri end Morris and the SPLC do not charge fees or keep part of the
settlements they win. And, they do not accept government funds. That is why I urge you
to send whatever you can today. Just as importantly, I urge you to please promote justice
and acceptance in your communiry. Together we can make a difference in our nation.

n~~~
George McGovern

P.S. Morris has offered to send you a copy of his autobiography, A Journey,
if you will send a gift of $25. 00 or more. It reads like a fas t-paced novel.
Over three decades, SPLC has torn down institutional racism
in the South and toppled some of the nation's largest white
supremacist hate groups by helping victims of racist violence
sue for monetary damages. The groups usually don't have
much money, but the judgments won by SPLC have effectively
put them out of business. SPLC is currently tracking the
activities of more than 900 hate groups in the u.s.
These accomplishments were funded entirely by SPLC
supporters. SPLC never takes any part of our clients' award s,
and we accept no legal fees or any government funds.
2008 Taking Down the Imperial Klans of America
11994 The Harold Mansfield Case
A $1 million judgment held the white supremacist
group, Church of the Creator, accountable for the
murder of a black Gulf War veteran. The "Church's"
mission asks its followers to "purify" the white race,
eliminating "mud races" and Jews from the earth.
Leaders encouraged followers to show loyalty by
commi tting acts to bring about a Racial Holy War.
1990 Taking on the White Aryan Resistance
A Portland, Oregon, jury ordered the racist

skinhead group White Aryan Resistance to pay

A $2.5 million legal verdict was

$12.5 million for the brutal murder of Ethiopian

rendered against Ron Edwards, leader

student Mulugeta Seraw. SPLC sued on behalf

of the Imperial Klans of America, and

of Seraw's son.

his chieflieutenant for the savage

beating of a 16-year-old boy of Latino
descent at a county fair in Ke ntucky.
The boy suffers permanent physical
and mental damage.
2007
Winning Justice for Billy Ray Johnson
A jury awarded $9 million to a
mentally challenged black man who
suffered permanent brain damage after
a racially motivated beating by four
1988 Shutting Down the Invisible Empire
A jury assessed nearly $1 million in damages against two Klan
organizations and 11 followers responsible for attacking black
marc hers in Forsyth County, Georgia, on the anniversary of Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr.'s death. SPLC traced the assets of the Klan leader for
five years to ensure the group felt financial pressure from the verdict.
1987 The Michael Donald Lynching
Members of the United Klans of

young white men in Linden, Texas. America abducted, murdered, and

The attackers received only a slap on hung the body of a 19-year-old black

the wrist from the local judicial system. man from a tree. A historic $7 million

verdict in Mobile, Alabama, marked

2005 Crushing Border Vigilantes

the end of the United Klans, the same

group that had beaten Freedom

Ranch Rescue, a vigilante "border patrol" that

Riders and blown up the Sixteenth

terrorized Latinos, was shattered and one of its

Street Baptist Church, killing four

leaders sent to prison after a prolonged legal battle

little girls in Birmingham, Alabama.

by SPLC attorneys and law enforcement officials

in Texas and Arizona. SPLC sued on behalf of two
Salvadorans assaulted on a Texas ranch. I Mid-1980s Shutting Down the White Patriot Party Militia
An SPLC lawsuit forced the South's most militant Klan group, with

2000 Closing the Aryan Nations Compound in Idaho

A $6.3 million jury verdict forced
Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler
to give up the organization's 20-acre
compound that had served for
decades as the home of violent white
supremacists. The compo und w as
seized and destroyed after the verdict.
1998 Making the Klan Pay in South Carolina
A $37.8 million verdict against the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux
Klan (later reduced to $21.5 million) was the largest ever against a
hate group. SPLC sued on behalf of Macedonia Baptist Church, one
of several black churches burned by arsonists in the mid-1990s.
more than 1,000 armed members, to disband. Several members were
later convicted of plotting to blow up the SPLC offices.
I 1981 Protecting Vietnamese Fishermen
-
-----
.
-
Armed and trained in guerilla tactics,
members of the Knights of the KKK
Galveston Bay looking for
Vietnamese-American fishermen to
terrorize by burning boats and threat­
ening lives. An SPLC lawsuit halted
this campaign of terror and shut
down paramilitary training camps.
For more information about SPLC's work in the courtroom and to make
a donation, please visit www.splcenter.org
o YES, Senator McGovern, I accept your request to help Morris Dees and the Southern Poverty Law Center
combat hate in the courtroom and the classroom. I will support their work tracking and suing hate groups,
assisting law enforcement agencies with investigations, and teaching tolerance to the next generation with free
educational materials for schools.
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• ND REPl. Y • 048687

A Journey: The Morris Dees Story

365 page award-winning autobiography
As a small token of appreciation, individuals who support M orris Dees and the
Southern Poverty Law Center with a gift of $25 or more will receive this inspiring book.
This book reads like a best selling novel. But it is all true . .. death threats fro m the
Klan .. . his law offices set ablaze ... armed racists stalking hi m in the dead of the night.
This is the story of how, from a boy picking cotton in rural Alabama, he grew into the
man Caretta Scott King called "by any measure one of the most dedicated and effective
civil rights lawyers in U .S. history. "

... the inspiring story of Morris Dees, a
Southern lawyer of humble beginnings, who
has dedicated his life to rhe pursuit ofjustice
and compassion for the powerless."
- Jimmy Carter
"... a grippi ng study of man s inhumanity to man
and the snuggle against inj ustice by Morris Dees
and the Southern Poverty Law Center."
Rosa Parks

S PLC t~~~~~~T.~~ge~.~,~~.~.~~~~~~,
400 Washington Avenue ' Montgomery, AL 36104