I am writing to you in the hopes of earning your support

friend,

My name is Michael Lieberman and I serve as the senior policy counsel for hate and extremism at the SPLC. I am writing to you in the hopes of earning your support in order to fight back against the increase in hate violence plaguing our communities.

As you know, public policy is critical to advancing our mission of putting an end to hate and violence in the Deep South. For decades, the SPLC has worked with lawmakers to demand changes in the face of injustice. While the number of reported hate crimes increases, we must continue advocating for protection and prevention programs at the state and federal level.

State legislatures in the Deep South are passing legislation that further stigmatizes and dehumanizes the lives of LGBTQ+ people, people of color and immigrants. Florida is taking the lead in enacting these hateful laws. In 2022, hard-right lawmakers pushed their anti-LGBTQ agenda by banning discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools — creating the perfect breeding ground for heightened bias to become the catalyst for violent incidents.

Just this year, the Advanced Placement African American studies curriculum was banned by the Florida State Board of Education in an attempt to erase the truth about this country’s history.

Shielding the truth from children does not protect them, and it does not foster an environment conducive to respect and equity. Instead, these attacks on school curricula make our youth more susceptible to misinformation and false conspiracy theories that can increase the likelihood of hate crimes happening in our communities.

And while other conservative legislatures in the country may follow suit, the need for state and federal protections becomes more urgent.

SPLC helps lead a broad coalition in Washington working with lawmakers to ensure there are protections put in place to curb hate crimes:

• Inaccurate data continues to be a systemic problem in reporting hate crimes. Many jurisdictions were unwilling or unable to report hate crimes through a national database, leading to dramatically incomplete information. Data drives policy, and we cannot understand the full scope of a problem until we require more comprehensive reporting.
• Enforcement is vitally important, but the ultimate goal is to prevent hate crimes. The White House must follow through on the wide array of very welcome government initiatives and public-private partnerships against hate and extremism announced in September 2022 at the United We Stand Summit. Additionally, the SPLC’s award-winning Learning for Justice program provides valuable resources to empower educators to help steer young people away from violent extremism.
• We must promote online safety and hold social media companies accountable for their role in allowing disinformation and hateful ideologies to spread. Young people are the primary targets of this kind of indoctrination, so we must ensure these platforms are not facilitating the proliferation of extremist messaging.
• Finally, we must encourage our lawmakers and community leaders to publicly condemn hate and extremism in our country. Words matter, and they have a tremendous influence on how social issues are viewed.

My team is incredibly grateful for the support that makes our work possible, but we still need your help.

Would you be able to make a special gift today to help us champion the policies we desperately need to end the rise of hate crimes?

Donate

With the surge of hate happening in our communities, it has never been more important to uphold the values we hold dear. No one should be living in fear of their wellbeing because of who they are or who they love. Thank you for being an ally.

With gratitude,

Michael Lieberman
Senior Policy Counsel, Hate & Extremism
The Southern Poverty Law Center

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