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The Honorable Michael Mecaul 131 Cannon I-Louse 0111Cc Building ADVANCING FAITH, FAMILY AND FREEDOM JUI 27, 2015 The Honorable Michael MeCaul 131 Cannon I-louse 0111cc Building United Slates House of Representatives Washington. D.C. 20515 The 1-lonorabie Bennie Thompson 2466 Rayburn I-louse Office Building United Slates [louse of Representatives Washington, DC. 20515 Dear Representatives McCaul and Thompson: I ;ould like 10 thank you both and the Comrnftcee for the hard work you are doIrn! in atlcmpIin to assess and eliminate the terrorist threats our nation laces whether domestic or foreign. Your July 15 hearing. “The Rise of Radicalization: Is the US. Government Failing to Counter International rmd Domestic Terrorism,” prompted the filing of a letter into the record to which I must respond. lam speaking of a July 16 letter by Mr. Richard Cohen of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) that attacks the organization for hich I am the executive vice-president, the Family Research Council (FRC). The letter is representative of the sort of work that the SPLC does best: attack and denunciation. One of America’s foremost experts on political extremism. Laird Wilcox.’ has said of the SPLC that it is an organization that has ‘specialized a highly developed and ritualized form of defamation..” In this instance, one merely has to examine the fourth paragraph of Mr. Cohen’s letier to see how the SPLC operates. His language is simply unhinged. The letter is unwonh of a Congressional committee We have addressed the issues raised by the 2 SPLC previously, but let it be noted that the FRC works regularly with religious and political leaders across America. We are a mainstream, orthodox Christian organization that analyzes matters of sexuality and marriage in a different manner than does the SPLC. We stand firm in our faith. However, as the bile produced in (he Cohen letter indicates, the SPLC is incapable of having reasonable disagreements with people Laird Wikox Wikipedia (https://en.wikipediaorg/wiki/Laird_Wilcax); “Exhibiting Free Speech: The Wilcox Collection at 50, Kenneth Spencer Research library, “Inside Spencer: the KSRL Blog,” Kansas University Libraries, University of Kansas (March 30, 2015) (http://blogs.Iib.ku.edu/spencer/tag/Iaird-wilcox/}. Family Research Council, “Answering the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Attack Upon the Family Research Council” ALgust 2012 (http://downloads.frcorg/[F/EF!2H46pdt). FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL RDI 0 SThEET NW WA5HI9GTD, C. 20001 • 202-393’21D • 2fl2393-2S2 FAX • (ODD) 225-40DB OPDER LINE • RPC U0 with whom it disagrees. Instead, all opponents are undeserving of decency. This isa mark of true lanaticism. Itis exactly this sort of rhetoric and animus that can lead to violence. The SF’LC has used its website to recklessly inflame public sentiment against those with whom it disagrees by labeling them “extremists” and “haters.” Regarding this point the FI{C has direct experience. On August 15, 2012, Floyd Lee Corkins 11, entered our lobby armed with a loaded semi automatic pistol and 100 rounds of ammunition. intending to slaughter as many FRC staff as he could because we oppose same-sex marriage. Fortunately, it never came to that because our building manager, Mr. Leo Johnson. heroically stopped Corkins though he was shot and grievously wounded with a bone-shattering injury to his left arm. On February 6,2013, Corkins pleaded guilty to three charges in federal court, including committing an act of domestic terrorism while armed. Corkins is the only person to ever have been convicted under the D.C. terrorism statute enacted in 2002, in the wake of 9-1 i. In a chilling interrogation video released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and played in court, 4 He also Corkins said he picked his targets by relying on the SPLC website’s I-late Map. repeated these facts in open court when he pleaded guilty. It is part of the indisputable public record. Yet, Mr. Cohen made this statement in his letter to your committee: ‘The contention that our hate map played a role in radicalizing Floyd Corkins, who shot and wounded a security guard at the FRC’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., is patently absurd.” Mr. Cohen seems to think of his organization’s Flate Map as something akin to a Google webpage or a Garmin Nuvi — a sterile Internet or GPS device with no underlying ideology or purpose. Around the time of the FRC incident, the FBI indicated that the FRC was not the only organization to have been targeted by Corkins. A similar conservative group, the Public Advocate, may have been next on his hit list. Corkins was seen near the Public Advocate’s office in FaIls Chureh. Just a few short weeks ago on June 9 of this year, the SPLC released yet another list: this one, enumerating high-profile conservative women who are “at the core of the anti-Muslim radical right.”’ Complete with hirthdates, pictures, hometowns, and organizational affiliations, this group of a dozen women consists of highly credentialed policy experts whom the SPLC bluntly In fact, this horrific terrorist act is now part of an exhibit at the NatiDnal Museum of Crime and Punishment in Washington, D.C., entitled ‘Domestic Terrori5m and Hate Crimes. For more on the exhibit, see this March 20, 2015 story by Penny Starr of CNSNew5.com (http://cnsnews.com/news/article/penny-starr/domestic-terror attack-k mily-resea rch-cou nci I-new-exhibit-national-crime). One can 5ee Corkins attack Leo Johnson in this video, and the relevant part of his interrogation in which he names the SPL.C website as the source of his information (link; https;//www.youtube.com/watch?vnl9BQISv8Fg). Jonathan Hunley, teesburg Today, “Delgaudio Outraged Over Herring Fundraising Email,’ http://www.leesburgtoday.com/news/delga udlo-outraged-over-he rn ng-fu nd raising-email/a rticl e_e5 1f2 e4c-3244- 11e5-8955-Sf3BbfdS3O3d.html, accessed 7/28/15. Mark Potok and Janet Smith, SPLC Hatewatch, ‘Women Against 151am” https://medium.com/hatewatch blog/women-against-islam-a9f42563e1c2, accessed 7/28/15. categorizes — as it is vont to do — as radicai islamophobes” Why? Because they have expressed concern with the incremental creep ol Sharia law and domestic terrorism in the United States. \‘our committee is vell anare olthe spitce in incidents of homegrown terror committed by those who associate with radical [slarn.A list of this sort puts all twelve women squarely in the crosshairs. As Laird Wilcox notes. the SPLCTh name-calling is absolutely intentional. It is “a way of harming and isolating people by denying their humanity and trying to convert them into something that deserves to be hate and eliminated” Their methodology is simple, effecti’e. and :j ci Oils. th SF’LC could not be allowed to make such comments With these points in mind, I felt that about the FRC. and about other fhithful Christians indirectly, without a response. Mr. Chairman and Representative Thompson. I thank you for this opportunity to do so. Respectfully yours. LTG (R) US Army Executive Vice President Family Research Council.
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