Duke University officials have announced they are accepting an archive of "hate" literature from the Southern Poverty Law Center, which itself recently has been linked in a court case to domestic terrorism.
The announcement explained that SPLC was donating "its extensive collection of materials documenting extremist and hate groups in the United States."
The recipient will be the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, officials said.
According to the announcement, the collection includes "nearly 90 boxes of periodicals, pamphlets, flyers and other documents intended for distribution to group members and recruits over the past 30 years."
"The SPLC collection includes materials on many types of extremist groups such as neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, white nationalists, neo-Confederates, racist skinheads, black separatists, border vigilantes and others," Duke said.
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School officials did not respond to a WND request for comment, but in the Duke Today university publication, the school boasted that "the SPLC Intelligence Project has been called 'one of the most respected anti-terror organizations in the world' by National Review."
"It monitors hate groups and other extremists throughout the United States and exposes their activities to law enforcement agencies, the media and the public. The project posts its investigative findings online, on the Hatewatch blog and in the Intelligence Report, an award-winning quality journal. The Project has crippled some of the country's most notorious hate groups by suing them for murders and other violent acts committed by their members."
But there was no mention of the confirmation that came last month in a Washington, D.C., court case tying the SPLC itself to domestic terrorism.
In the case, Floyd Lee Corkins II pleaded guilty to terror charges and told investigators he got his information about which group to attack from the SPLC.
Retired Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin, the executive vice president of Family Research Council, the conservative pro-family organization targeted by Corkins in his shooting rampage, and also a member of the board of WND.com, said wants the U.S. government and its agencies to stop working with SPLC and citing its work.
Corkins told the FBI he went to FRC headquarters intending to killing as many people as possible because SPLC identified FRC as a "hate" group, based on the organization's biblical stance on homosexuality.
The video shows the attack and Corkins' confession of help from SPLC:
While Duke was allowing SPLC's Heidi Beirich to promote her organization in a school news statement, Boykin was making his position clear.
The interrogation of Corkins, he said, "tells you the SPLC directly is connected to domestic terrorism. They are connected to domestic terrorism in a federal case in Washington, D.C."
He continued, "We want the U.S. government to stop supporting … and using the SPLC. They're now connected to domestic terrorism." He cited the reports from SPLC that law enforcement periodically references, the classes the SPLC teaches to law enforcement officers, and other influences.
And Boykin said the U.S. media needs to "stop giving them a voice to spew their hatred."
Such validation simply gives the appearance that "their dangerous actions" are "sanctioned by the U.S."
"Third, we'd really like for the Congress to take some kind of action to do a legitimate assessment of the recklessness of this organization," he said.
WND reported Corkins now has entered a plea of guilty to a charge of domestic terrorism and fingered the SPLC for publicly describing FRC as a "hate" group."
The video shows Corkins entering the building and approaching building manager Leo Johnson, then leaning over to place his backpack on the floor. When he straightens up, Corkins points a handgun – a loaded semi-automatic – directly at Johnson and fires.
Despite being wounded in the arm, Johnson is able to subdue Corkins after a brief struggle.
It was in an interview with FBI officers later that Corkins fingered SPLC for his inspiration.
Asked by the FBI how he picked FRC to attack, Corkins stated, "It was a, uh, Southern Poverty Law, lists, uh, anti-gay groups. I found them online. I did a little bit of research, went to the website, stuff like that."
FRC said that when Corkins later pleaded guilty to a charge of domestic terrorism, SPLC "was connected in federal court in this first domestic terrorism conviction in Washington, D.C., under the post 9/11 law."
"Floyd Corkins admitted his intention to 'kill the people in the building and then smear a Chick-fil-A sandwich in their face," FRC explained. "The Southern Poverty Law Center has thus far refused to remove Family Research Council as a 'hate group' from its target map."
According to the government's sentencing memorandum in the case against Corkins, who is now expected to be sentenced sometime in June, the "mass killing of innocent civilians" was averted narrowly by "the heroic intervening actions of Leonardo Johnson, a building manager/security guard who was seriously injured as a result."
The FBI exchange with Corkins included:
FBI: "What was your intention … You're … a political activist you said?"
Corkins: "Yeah, I wanted to kill the people in the building and then smear a Chicken-fil-A sandwich on their face."
FBI: "And you, what was your intention when you went in there with the gun?"
Corkins: "Uh, it was to kill as many people as I could."
FRC President Tony Perkins previously said that the SPLC's statements about the FRC "gave license" to Corkins' to attack.
Corkins, 28, confessed he was motivated by FRC's stance against homosexuality and same-sex "marriage."
"The Southern Poverty Law Center can no longer say that it is not a source for those bent on committing acts of violence," Perkins said earlier.
The significance of the Chick-fil-A sandwiches Corkins bought and brought to FRC was that the owner of the restaurant chain was under fire last summer from homosexual activists for stating his support for traditional marriage.
Perkins said that only by "ending its hate labeling practices will the SPLC send a message that it no longer wishes to be a source for those who would commit acts of violence that are only designed to intimidate and silence Christians and others who support natural marriage and traditional morality."
On its website, SPLC has a page on FRC.
"FRC often makes false claims about the LGBT community based on discredited research and junk science," the group says. "The intention is to denigrate LGBT people in its battles against same-sex marriage, hate crimes laws, anti-bullying programs and the repeal of the military’s 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell' policy."