CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO/WTXL) - The nonprofit group Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has been tracking hate groups of all kinds in the United States for years. The SPLC is a very well known legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation.
In its own statement on its website they claim,
The Southern Poverty Law Center is dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society. Using litigation, education, and other forms of advocacy, the SPLC works toward the day when the ideals of equal justice and equal opportunity will be a reality.
Part of the SPLC mission is to identify hate groups that are operating around the country and they do so with what they call a Hate Map. They claim there are currently 917 active hate groups operating in the US in 2016. Among the groups they track are Neo-Nazis, Black Separatists, Anti-Immigration, Anti-LGTB to name only a few.
Checking the SPLC hate map in Charlottesville, Va. after the attacks over the weekend, there are no hate groups identified in that city. In nearby Richmond the SPLC identifies not one, but two Ku Klux Klan groups that are known to operate there.
In Florida, according to the SPLC, there are currently 63 active hate groups.
The map fails to identify the Republic of Florida, which is based in Tallahassee, as a hate group and instead only identifies the New Black Panther Party in Tallahassee as a black separatist party.
In Georgia, SPLC identified 32 groups.
To see the story WTXL did warning about the Republic of Florida, click here.
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