My uncle Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr would have opposed profiting from hate

I was born into a family that believed in God, loved America and taught that every human being possesses human dignity. Long before prejudice and identity-based politics became fixtures of American life, I learned a simple truth that guided my family’s work and shaped the civil rights movement itself: we are one blood, one human race.

My family background is very diverse. My grandmother’s family came from the west coast of Africa. My grandfather’s family came from Ireland. My mother’s family included Cherokee roots. I have spent my entire life living the reality that America is not a collection of competing tribes. America is one people under God.

My uncle, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., did not dedicate his life to teaching Americans to see one another as permanent enemies. He did not divide people into categories of oppressors and oppressed. He called us to a higher standard — to judge one another by character, to pursue justice without hatred and to recognize our shared humanity under God.

That is why I am deeply concerned by the growing industry of division that has taken root in America — and by the role the Southern Poverty Law Center has played in fueling it.

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Southern Poverty Law Center interim CEO Bryan Fair defended the left-wing organization's designation of Turning Point USA as an extremist organization. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Elizabeth Frantz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

For decades, the SPLC has positioned itself as a leading authority in the fight against hatred and extremism. Yet recent allegations detailed in a federal superseding indictment raise serious questions about whether the organization has lived up to the principles it claims to defend.

According to those allegations, individuals associated with organizations that the SPLC itself labeled as extremist or hate groups allegedly received substantial payments over many years. The indictment describes hundreds of thousands, and, in at least one case, more than a million dollars, in payments to sources connected to White supremacist, neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan organizations.

These allegations deserve careful scrutiny.

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Americans who faithfully donate their hard-earned money to combat racism and hatred deserve transparency and accountability. Many of those donors are sincere people who believe they are supporting a noble cause. They have the right to know how their donations have been used and whether the organizations they support are practicing the values they publicly preach.

The concerns extend beyond financial questions. For years the SPLC and similar organizations have helped cultivate a worldview that teaches — especially young people — to see our nation through the lens of permanent racial conflict. Rather than emphasizing reconciliation, shared citizenship and common humanity, they too often reinforce the idea that Americans are defined primarily by their differences.

This is not the vision that inspired the civil rights movement. It is certainly not the vision that inspired Uncle M.L.

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As my uncle taught, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

I know something about being labeled. For years, I have been characterized in ways that bear little resemblance to who I am or what I believe — I have even been labeled by the SPLC itself! So let me be clear: I reject racism. I reject hatred. I reject White supremacy. I reject any ideology that seeks to elevate one group above another.

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The answer to racism is not more division. The answer is truth and love.

Today, I still have a dream that Americans will see one another not as enemies, but as neighbors. Acts 17:26 tells us that we are one blood. Science testifies that we are one human race. If we remember this core truth, we can build a future worthy of the sacrifices made by those who came before us.

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