Statement on the DOJ’s Persecution of SPLC

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Dēmos President Taifa Butler released the following statement in response:

“The American people’s shared goal should be to strengthen our multiracial democracy—to make sure that our institutions enable everyone to speak with an equal voice, regardless of their skin color, background, or income. For this administration to persecute a pillar of that mission, a legacy civil-rights organization like the Southern Poverty Law Center, speaks volumes about its shameful disregard for the project of shared democracy. 

“In a sense, this is not a surprise. This administration has made it clear that it will attack, persecute, and villainize any person, organization, or group that decries its actions and tries to hold it to account. These allegations are clearly targeted and threaten to sow distrust and erode the legitimacy of organizations and individuals working to advance a multiracial democracy. 

We will not be intimidated, and we will not be silenced.

“Their playbook is clear–it’s the same playbook of authoritarians around the world looking to consolidate power: Intimidate and destroy people who disagree with you, from universities to law firms and, now, nonprofit groups fighting for our democracy. However, it will not work. We will not be intimidated, and we will not be silenced.”

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Dēmos is a non-profit public policy organization working to build a just, inclusive, multiracial democracy and economy. We work hand in hand to build power with and for Black and brown communities, forging strategic alliances with grassroots and state-based organizations.