SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER AND MARK DUKE TRASH SELMA
12-17-08
In a piece of yellow journalism which should be entitled "Lies, More Lies and Half Truths" appearing on the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) website, the SPLC and Mark Duke present Selma as a hotbed of racism, white supremacy, segregation, and backwardness from which Duke and the Freedom Foundation will save us. This piece of flawed and inaccurate writing obviously is the result of Mark Duke whining to the SPLC because everyone in Selma has not been gullible enough to welcome him and his horde of followers with open arms.
The damaging aspect of the article is how Selma is presented. The city, according to the SPLC and Duke, is in a time warp dating from the times of slavery through 1860. Anyone who reads the article will assume the city must still approve of lynching, segregation, and slavery. This despite the fact that the City has a black Mayor, six of the nine council members are black, blacks head at least 90% of all city departments, as well as the Post Office, DHR, Social Security, and Community College and the city is represented in the legislature by a black Senator and a black Representative. Unfortunately, the SPLC and Duke are blind to the racial harmony which does exist in Selma between at least 95% of the blacks and whites.
Of course Duke only cares about his own agenda, which in our opinion, is to use the name "Selma" to get money. Any industrial prospect who reads the article on the SPLC website will locate as far away from Selma as it can. This has the effect of costing job opportunities for blacks because at least 75% of the city's population is black. Apparently, Duke and the SPLC really do not care how they hurt black Selmians as long as they can promote themselves.
We urge you to go to the SPLC website and read their Intelligence Report titled Outside Agitators and let us know if you have ever read a more slanted, inaccurate, mean spirited, and hurtful article about our city. BECAUSE MARK DUKE PERCIPATATED THIS ENTIRE AFFAIR WITH THE SPLC which has resulted in this smear of our city, DUKE AND HIS FOLLOWERS SHOULD INDEED GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!
