By: Cliff Kincaid
Accuracy in Media

As incredible as it seems, an anchor for the terror channel Al Jazeera is hosting an upcoming “documentary” on “Hate In America.” It appears, based on a press release issued in advance, that the program will spend absolutely no time at all on the threats or hate directed against those who have been falsely labeled “Islamophobes” by such groups as the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Council on American Islamic Relations.

In fact, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is one of the “partners” producing the documentary along with Al Jazeera anchor Tony Harris. It is scheduled to air on February 23rd on the Investigation Discovery channel. Another “partner” is NBC News’ production arm, Peacock Productions.

The release says the program “features the racially charged murder of a black father in Mississippi who died after being beaten and run over; the gruesome mass shooting of a Wisconsin Sikh congregation; and a brutal anti-gay attack on the streets of New York City.”

While there are certainly hateful incidents and crimes against blacks, homosexuals, and others, the idea that the SPLC should be put forward as a legitimate arbiter of what constitutes “hate” is laughable. It tends to be critical of people who write or act critically of radical Islam, the United Nations, President Obama or the homosexual lobby.

The hate that has been generated against critics of radical Islam can be seen in the murder of 12 cartoonists, journalists and two police officers in France.

President Obama on Wednesday called these terrorists “cowards.” But he had told the United Nations in 2012, “The future must not belong to those who slander the Prophet of Islam.” The French writers were connected with a magazine that published cartoons making fun of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

One of the dead writers was specifically named as a target by an al-Qaeda magazine.

Blogger and activist Pamela Geller notes that in 2012, then-White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, rather than defending freedom of the press and speech, instead attacked the French magazine for publishing the cartoons, saying the images would be “deeply offensive to many.”

The SPLC targets its critics by name as well, labeling them “hate groups” and running photographs of officers and employees so they can more easily be identified. The group was implicated in the 2012 terrorist attack on the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the Family Research Council (FRC), when homosexual militant Floyd Corkins entered its offices and shot a security guard. He had intended to shoot and kill many others.

An investigation found that Corkins identified his target on the website of the SPLC, which provides maps of locations of various alleged “hate groups,” as well as names of their leaders and officials. The FRC was listed as one such group.

The SPLC’s “Teaching tolerance” project ran an article praising unrepentant communist terrorist bomber Bill Ayers as a “civil rights organizer, radical anti-Vietnam War activist, teacher and author.” An “editor’s note” went so far as to say that Ayers had become “a highly respected figure in the field of multicultural education.”

In fact, Ayers and his wife Bernardine Dohrn participated in bombing campaigns against people and police, and were open supporters of communist regimes in Hanoi and Havana. They use education as a weapon against “white supremacy” and capitalism.

In a column on the hate crimes racket, we noted that the media strategy behind SPLC’s use of the “hate” label to describe conservatives serves to demonize them and convey the impression that they should not be taken seriously and are outside the mainstream. In the case of the FRC and other Christian organizations, the SPLC’s main objection is to the group’s mission of documenting the harm that is caused by homosexual behavior and promiscuity to society, the family, and the individuals practicing it.

The fact that an anchor for Al Jazeera would be part of a program on “hate” is simply beyond belief. Al Jazeera is the channel of the Muslim Brotherhood, a group linked to various Islamic terrorist groups such as Hamas. Its financial sponsor is the terrorist-supporting government of Qatar in the Middle East.

The SPLC lists its enemies by name, identifying their cities and towns, thus making it easier for violent lunatics and terrorists to find them. Such was the case with the FRC.

This writer was named on one SPLC list of “30 new activists heading up the radical right.” That, in turn, was picked up by the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), which included me on a list of “Islamophobic individuals.” All such claims are demonstrably false and designed to silence the exercise of one’s First Amendment rights. In more extreme cases, such as the FRC case, the SPLC’s attacks can make those named into targets and victims of violence or terrorism.

Nevertheless, the Investigation Discovery (ID) channel is giving the SPLC unwarranted positive national publicity. The channel describes itself as one of the nation’s fastest growing cable networks, delivering programming to nearly 85 million U.S. households.

Its claim about delivering the “highest-quality programming” to news consumers has now come into serious dispute, at a time when throwing around the term “hate” can have fateful consequences.

  • The channel can be contacted at (240) 662-3709.