CHN’s Executive Director Deborah Weinstein issued this statement in response to the Trump Department of Justice attacks on the SPLC:

“The Coalition on Human Needs views with alarm the Trump administration’s attacks on the Southern Poverty Law Center, including its recent indictment. CHN’s member organizations include those representing people of faith, service providers, policy experts, labor, and civil rights; the Southern Poverty Law Center is a valued member.

“Our members recognize that groups whose reason for being is to foment hate threaten the lives, livelihood, and well-being of millions of people in our nation. Whether the hate is focused on people of color, immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, or those practicing certain faiths, these attacks spread poverty and hardship and threaten our tattered democracy.

“The Southern Poverty Law Center has documented and fought against hatred and violence, and has been attacked because of its principled work. Instead of protecting the SPLC, the Trump administration has added its own attack, using the mighty resources of government in yet another abusive targeting of a nonprofit organization whose views disagree with the new official “line.”

“The priorities of our government should be to redress inequities that leave the targets of racial and other hatreds vulnerable. In its attack on the Southern Poverty Law Center, this administration continues on the shameful path of using its enforcement powers against victims of injustice and those who come to their defense. We all suffer because of this abuse of power.”