In a commentary published in today’s Tampa Tribune, the head of the SPLC’s Florida office argues in favor of pending legislation that would greatly reduce the number of the state’s children pushed into adult courts, a category in which Florida leads the nation.
A shrinking number of extremist groups has not translated into a drop in domestic terrorist attacks or racist violence as hatemongers move to online forums.
Marking the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, U.S. Rep. John Lewis and a gathering of congressional leaders and others laid a wreath on the Civil Rights Memorial at the SPLC in Montgomery, Alabama, to honor those who were killed during the movement.
Remembering the sacrifices of the past is important, but it’s not enough. We must address the racial and economic inequality that is so evident 50 years after the Voting Rights Act and 150 years after slavery was abolished.
The action comes amid a confrontation between the Alabama Supreme Court and the federal judiciary, which has struck down the state’s same-sex marriage ban as unconstitutional.
The SPLC’s new classroom documentary, Selma: The Bridge to the Ballot, tells the story of the 1965 Selma voting rights struggle through the eyes of teachers and students who were at the forefront of the movement.
Destin Holmes was constantly bombarded with anti-gay slurs and insults by students and even teachers. Her principal said: “I don’t want a dyke in this school.” Now, the school district has agreed to adopt new policies to protect LGBT students from harassment.
The SPLC has filed a federal lawsuit against the Georgia Department of Corrections on behalf of a transgender woman who has been denied medically necessary treatment and sexually assaulted by other inmates while held at a men’s prison.
The SPLC is supporting legislative efforts to rein in the power of Florida prosecutors to push children into adult courts and prisons without judicial oversight.
A federal jury in an SPLC case today awarded $14 million in compensatory and punitive damages to five Indian guest workers who were defrauded and exploited in a labor trafficking scheme engineered by a Gulf Coast marine services company, an immigration lawyer and an Indian labor recruiter who lured hundreds of workers to a Mississippi shipyard with false promises of permanent U.S. residency.
