| FLDS named to "Hate Group" list by Southern Poverty Law Center | |
| The Eldorado Success | |
The Southern Poverty Law Center will name the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to its “Hate Groups List” when it publishes its quarterly Intelligence Report on May 1st. The list contains hundreds of groups ranging from the Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Nation, to the Nation of Islam, many of them located here in Texas, some as nearby as San Angelo. Word of the listing reached the Success this week, along with an advance copy of an article titled “Tempest in Texas,” by SPLC reporter Susy Buchanan, which is due to appear in the upcoming Intelligence Report. In the article, Buchanan describes the FLDS, its belief in polygamy and its adherence to the teachings of Prophet Warren Jeffs, who Buchanan calls “a religious dictator.” Buchanan’s story goes on to describe Jeffs’ efforts to relocate a portion of his followers to the 1,691-acre YFZ Ranch, just north of Eldorado in Schleicher County. She also focuses on Jeffs’ racial teachings, which she terms, “rabid racism.” Buchanan told the Success on Friday of last week that she had reviewed “hours and hours” of Warren Jeffs’ teachings on audio tapes. Many of the audio clips she mentions in her story were published by the Success on its website and transcribed for print in its April 7 edition. “This is pretty alarming stuff,” Buchanan said. “The public needs to know about it.” Salt Lake City, UT attorney Rod Parker, who represents the FLDS from time to time, said that his clients’ beliefs about the black race stem from their fundamental Biblical beliefs that God punished Cain for killing Abel by changing the color of his skin. “It may sound strange to you and me,” Parker said. “But, it is part of their teaching. On the other hand I have never known Warren Jeffs to advocate prejudice against any group.” Mark Potok, Director of the SPLC Intelligence Division, defended the Hate Group designation in a telephone interview on Tuesday. “We’re not accusing the FLDS of hate crimes,” Potok told the Success. “We are saying that the group’s leadership, and particularly its prophet Warren Jeffs, have espoused an ideology of hate that is clearly white-supremacist in its nature.” Potok went on to say that the SPLC doesn’t routinely target religious groups. “We don’t do cults, per se,” Potok said. “We usually follow the more traditional racist groups like the Klan or the Nation of Islam. But, the FLDS entered our world last year when we learned of Warren Jeffs and his overtly racist teachings.” Potok noted that the SPLC Hate Group List is compiled using hate group publications and websites, citizen and law enforcement reports, field sources and news reports. He said the center lists only organizations and their chapters known to be active during 2004. The FLDS appears on the new list with locations in Colorado City, AZ and Hildale, UT as well as Mancos, CO and Eldorado, TX. The list includes 762 active hate groups in all. State Representative Harvey Hildebran, who has introduced legislation targeting the FLDS, told the Success on Tuesday, “We have already heard tapes of the church’s leader preaching racism, so the addition of the FLDS to the hate group watch list comes as no surprise to me.” “It is saddening that there are still people in the world who can hold such xenophobic beliefs,” Hilderbran added, “and even more upsetting that this group has brought these beliefs to Texas.” Closer to home, Sheriff David Doran, who is one of the few locals to have regular contact with the reclusive residents at the YFZ Ranch, said he was unsure what the SPLC’s decision to include the FLDS on its list of hate groups would mean. “It will probably generate another round of media attention, but other than that, I don’t know what it will accomplish,” Doran said. “I wish someone would show me some evidence of a crime instead of all this speculation.” Special Agent Bill Endorff of the Federal Bureau of Investigation told the Success on Tuesday that the FBI routinely tracks hate groups and said that he was aware that the FLDS church would appear on the SPLC watch list. Endorff declined specific comment on the FLDS but did say that the FBI’s San Angelo field office was aware of the group and its prophet Warren Jeffs and that his followers are moving to the YFZ Ranch near Eldorado. “We have been monitoring, and will continue to monitor the situation very closely,” Endorff stated. The Southern Poverty Law Center is a non-profit civil rights advocacy group founded in 1971 by attorneys Morris Dees and Joe Levin. The center monitors and reports the activities of groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, Nation of Islam and the Aryan Nation and has scored dozens of legal victories on behalf of civil rights abuse victims. In 1981, the Center began investigating hate activity in response to a resurgence of groups like the Ku Klux Klan. Today the Center’s Intelligence Project monitors hate groups and tracks extremist activity throughout the U.S. It provides comprehensive updates to law enforcement, the media and the public through its quarterly magazine, Intelligence Report. Staff members regularly conduct training sessions for police, schools, and civil rights and community groups, and they often serve as experts at hearings and conferences. The SPLC Hate Group List and the article by Susy Buchanan will be published in the upcoming edition of the Intelligence Report, due out at the end of the month. The Southern Poverty Law Center has its headquarters in Montgomery, AL. For more information about the SPLC visit the group’s website at www.splcenter.org. The Eldorado Success continues to seek comment from FLDS Prophet Warren Jeffs or other church representatives on this story, or any other story dealing with the FLDS church or the YFZ Ranch. | |
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MyEldorado.net Originally published April 21, 2005 | |
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