southern poverty law center

May 4, 2022 - Republican senators recently grilled Biden judicial nominee Nancy Abudu, a civil rights lawyer who has protected abortion rights and fought voter suppression in the Deep South. Senators also heard from four other nominees, all women of color. At least one nominee has bipartisan support. 

March 11, 2022 - A new report from the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center finds that the number of U.S. hate groups fell for the third year in a row — but says that's not necessarily good news, as such views are now moving from the fringe into the mainstream. It also found that hate groups are becoming more concentrated in the Southern states.  

March 9, 2022 - Organizers are frustrated by Biden giving short shrift to voting rights in his first State of the Union address. In response, they're stepping up efforts to secure federal voting protections as state legislatures across the South continue to pass suppressive voting laws.

March 3, 2022 - While reporting on the human rights crisis in Alabama's prisons, journalist Beth Shelburne began corresponding with incarcerated men in the state about their fight to read. She recounts their ongoing battles against censorship inside an irrational system where books and magazines are treated like dangerous contraband.

October 28, 2021 - A Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by civil rights groups on behalf of several immigrant advocacy organizations working with Cameroonians fleeing violence at home confronts anti-Black racism in the U.S. immigration system.

February 3, 2021 - Right-wing extremists who believe the fall of American society has begun and should be hastened through racial polarization and violence played a key role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Documents filed as part of recent criminal prosecutions of accelerationists, many active in the South, reveal disturbing trends, including ties to foreign intelligence services and penetration of the U.S. military.

January 28, 2021 - Farm labor advocacy groups are pressing for policy changes that seemed distant under the Trump administration. But they also remain committed to reaching union agreements through supply chain actions, which have proven a more reliable path to farmworker justice in Southern states.