To be even more precise, it's that it exaggerates the import of violent fringe racist groups in order to raise funds, rather than the prevalence of racism per se. Obviously, racism remains a big problem in the South as in the North; the question is, if you're going to donate x dollars to "combating racism," should you donate your dollars to an organization that is writing reports exaggerating the importance of fringe groups with little influence, or should you donate them to organizations that are combating racism that causes much, much more social harm.
On Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 9:45 AM, Jim Devine <[email protected]> wrote: > Someone should mention the content of Cockburn's (and Silverstein's) > critique of the Southern Poverty Law Center. It's that it exaggerates > the prevalence of racism in the South in order to raise funds for its > own leaders. That critique is plausible to me, since my impression is > that Chicago (where I came from) is just as racist as the South in the > era after the Civil Rights Act. Further, though I could be wrong, I > doubt that a significant number of people has been lynched in the > South in recent decades, but the SPLC has sent me pictures of > lynchings. (My mom used to send a lot of money to them -- and a couple > of their books to me.) > > However, having a NPLC would be good. In general, it would be good if > religious organizations lost their tax exemptions. > > Robert Naiman wrote: >> It would be way funny if someone would set up an organization called >> the "Northern Poverty Law Center," headquartered in New York City, to >> monitor the tax-exempt Kahanist organizations in New York that raise >> money for illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. These >> organizations are every bit as racist as the organizations and >> individuals that SPLC monitors, with the difference that the practical >> consequences of their activities are a thousand times greater. It >> would then be fun to compare which organization - SPLC or NPLC - >> raises more money for its monitoring activities. >> >> >> On Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 8:10 AM, Doug Henwood <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> On Mar 5, 2010, at 8:24 AM, Bill Lear wrote: >>> >>>> On Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 21:33:49 (-0800) Perelman, Michael writes: >>>>> >>>>> You should have an easy time locating some of Andrew Cockburn's >>>>> devastating blasts at the organization. >>>> >>>> Was it not Alex who blasted them? >>> >>> Yeah. And a lot of the original work in Counterpunch was actually done by >>> Ken Silverstein. >>> >>> Doug >>> _______________________________________________ >>> pen-l mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> Robert Naiman >> Policy Director >> Just Foreign Policy >> www.justforeignpolicy.org >> [email protected] >> _______________________________________________ >> pen-l mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l >> > > > > -- > Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own > way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > -- Robert Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org [email protected] _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
