MLK’s Niece Blasts SPLC Before Congress: Manufacturing Hate ‘To Line Their Pockets’

Alveda King — niece of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. — scorched the Southern Poverty Law Center before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, demanding answers over explosive allegations that the nonprofit watchdog secretly bankrolled the very extremists it claimed to fight.

“I am troubled by the conduct and messaging of organizations that claim to fight hatred while profiteering from division,” King told lawmakers.

At the heart of her testimony is a federal superseding indictment alleging that individuals tied to organizations the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) itself had labeled as hate groups — including white supremacist, neo-Nazi, and Ku Klux Klan outfits — received hundreds of thousands, and in some cases more than a million dollars in payments connected to the Montgomery, Alabama-based organization.

“Americans who faithfully donate their hard-earned money — many of them senior citizens like me — deserve transparency and accountability about how those funds are being used,” King said.

The rebuke carried unmistakable moral weight coming from King, 75, whose family lineage is a living testament to America’s racial history. Her grandmother’s roots trace to the west coast of Africa. Her grandfather’s family came from Ireland. Her mother carried Cherokee heritage. Her uncle gave his life for civil rights. She knows something about hatred — and about fighting it honestly.

“America is not a collection of competing tribes,” she declared. “America is one people under God.”

The SPLC has long been a lightning rod for controversy far beyond Tuesday’s hearing. In 2019, co-founder Morris Dees was ousted amid allegations of sexual harassment and racial discrimination within the organization itself — an extraordinary scandal for a group that built its brand on fighting bigotry. Dozens of staffers signed a letter warning that the workplace culture contradicted its public mission.

Former employees and investigative reporters have accused the SPLC of operating what Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) has called a “scam” — using inflammatory “hate group” designations to drive fundraising rather than to combat genuine extremism.

Critics also charge the SPLC has weaponized its hate-group list against mainstream conservative and religious organizations, lumping them alongside actual neo-Nazis to suppress political opposition under cover of civil rights work.

King didn’t mince words on that score either. “I reject racism. I reject hatred. I reject white supremacy,” she said — before pivoting: “But I also reject the notion that Americans who hold traditional Christian beliefs should be treated as threats or terrorists simply because we disagree with a prevailing political thought.”

King, a Fox News contributor, former Georgia state legislator, and founder of Alveda King Ministries, closed with a riff on her uncle’s most famous speech.

“Today I still have a dream,” she said. “I dream that one day we will move beyond black power and white power and embrace God’s power and human dignity.”

Her uncle would have recognized the cadence. The target, he might not have anticipated.