in 1995 and 1996. He returned to share his thoughts with us on February 24th at The Episcopal Academy.
Currently chief trial counsel of the Southern Poverty Law Center, he explained that the Center devotes
one third of its resources to litigation, one third to its Teaching Tolerance education program and
one-third to its Intelligence Project, which monitors hate groups. Dees said that he grew up in a
"very homogeneous farming community" in rural Alabama. He was sheltered from discrimination,
never even learning the history of discrimination against his Irish ancestors. His Quaker elementary
teacher taught him that we are "one nation, with liberty and justice for all." He was at the
University of Alabama in 1955 when Emmett Till was murdered. He wrote a letter to a local newspaper
about the case and received some hate mail in response.
Soon after, he was inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King's campaign in Montgomery. King "was like
Moses leading people to the promised land," he observed. Dees first got involved in the legal fight
against hate groups in Texas in 1981, when the KKK began using intimidation to stop enterprising
Vietnamese fishermen from competing with local fleets. Dees obtained a federal injunction against
the Klan's terror tactics. The full story is described here. He said the experience made him "realize
how great we are because of our diversity." He urged the Vietnamese to keep up their fight, using
King as a role model.
Turning to his observations of the Obama presidency, Dees said that we "have a front row seat to
history, as Obama faces the recrimination, anger and bitterness of an awful historical backlash."
At the fringes of that backlash are over 900 hate groups. As a veteran of the fight against intolerance,
Dees still has hope. Like Dr. King, he says he won't be "be satisfied until justice rolls down like
waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." We were very fortunate to once again be inspired
by Dees' wisdom and courage.
