SPLC Action Fund remarks for hearing on the threat from accelerationists and militia extremists

As part of the July 16 Subcommittee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism hearing on Assessing the Threat from Accelerationists and Militia Extremists, we write to provide the views of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) Action Fund. We would ask that this statement be included as part of the official hearing record.  

The SPLC Action Fund is dedicated to fighting for racial justice alongside impacted communities in pursuit of equity and opportunity for all.  We work primarily in the Southeast United States where we have offices in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Washington, D.C. The SPLC Action Fund promotes policies and laws that will eliminate the structural racism and inequalities that fuel oppression of people of color, immigrants, young people, women, low-income people, and the LGBTQ+ community.     

Today, the American far right is united by its extreme anti-government animus and violent apocalyptic ideations, epitomized by the current focus on an impending second civil war. These mentalities have long undergirded the far right, but they have now earned the movement’s near single-minded attention. Far-right extremists are actively preparing for civil war by acquiring weapons, engaging in paramilitary training, and even committing acts of violence aimed at sparking large-scale civil unrest. Because it is viewed as the main impediment to erecting an ethnonationalist and fascist state, the U.S. government itself is now the primary enemy against which the far right positions itself.  

Read the entire letter here.

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