George and Amal donate a million to the Southern Poverty Law Center to fight hate crime

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and The Guardian

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George & Amal Clooney Donate $1 Million To Fight Hate Groups

by Mike Fleming Jr

August 22, 2017 5:24am

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 FILM BREAKING NEWS AMAL CLOONEY GEORGE CLOONEY

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Responding to the deadly violence at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the initial reluctance of President Donald Trump to condemn the actions of white supremacists, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is partnering with the Clooney Foundation for Justice to increase the capacity of the SPLC to combat hate groups in America. The George & Amal ClooneyFoundation has bestowed a $1 million grant through the Clooney Foundation for Justice.

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“Amal and I wanted to add our voice (and financial assistance) to the ongoing fight for equality,” the couple said in a statement. “There are no two sides to bigotry and hate.”

The Clooney Foundation for Justice was co-founded by the Clooneys in 2016 to advance justice in courtrooms,
classrooms and communities around the world. The SPLC is a non-profit that monitors the activities of domestic hate
groups and other extremists, currently tracking more than 1,600 extremist groups operating
across the country. It has used litigation to win court judgments against 10 major white supremacist organizations and 50 individuals who led them or participated in violent acts.

“We are proud to support the Southern Poverty Law Center in its efforts to prevent violent
extremism in the United States,” the Clooneys said. “What happened in Charlottesville, and what is happening in
communities across our country, demands our collective engagement to stand up to hate.”

The Guardian:
George Clooney

George and Amal Clooney donate $1m to combat US rightwing extremism

The Clooney Foundation for Justice partners with the Southern Poverty Law Center to fight “bigotry and hate” in the wake of the events in Charlottesville

 George and Amal Clooney, whose organization has provided financial assistance to combat extremism. Photograph: Guillaume Horcajuelo/EPA

Gwilym Mumford

Tuesday 22 August 201718.14 BSTFirst published on Tuesday 22 August 201718.12 BST

George and Amal Clooney have announced a partnership with the Southern Poverty Law Center to combat “bigotry and hate” in the wake of the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The Clooney Foundation for Justice says that it will bestow a grant of $1m to the SPLC in order to assist the civil rights organization in its attempts to combat violent extremism in the US, following the death of counter-protester Heather Heyer at a white supremacist rally in the campus city earlier this month.

“Amal and I wanted to add our voice (and financial assistance) to the ongoing fight for equality,” George Clooney said. “There are no two sides to bigotry and hate.”

“We are proud to support the Southern Poverty Law Center in its efforts to prevent violent extremism in the United States,” the pair added in a statement. “What happened in Charlottesville, and what is happening in communities across our country, demands our collective engagement to stand up to hate.”

SPLC president Richard Cohen welcomed the Clooney Foundation’s contribution at a time when the radical right in America is “energized”.

“Like George and Amal Clooney, we were shocked by the size, ugliness, and ferocity of the white supremacist gathering in Charlottesville,” he said in a statement. “It was a reflection of just how much Trump’s incendiary campaign and presidency have energized the radical right. We are deeply grateful to the Clooney Foundation for standing with us at this critical moment in our country’s fight against hate.”

The donation comes at a time when federal funding to organizations combating rightwing extremism in the US has been frozen by Donald Trump’s administration. Trump himself was roundly criticized for his response to the events in Charlottesville, with the president declaring that activists from “both sides” had been responsible for the violence.

The Clooney Foundation for Justice was established in 2016 to “advance justice in courtrooms, communities and classrooms around the world.” Earlier this month it announced plans to provide $3.25m to help 3,000 Syrian refugee children receive an education in Lebanon. “We don’t want to lose an entire generation because they had the bad luck of being born in the wrong place at the wrong time,” George Clooney said in a statement.

By the way:
I think it's really important to fight rightwing extremism and prejudices, so to the SPLC! And to the Clooneys and everybody else who supports the SPLC!

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George and Amal Clooney are responding to the violence at recent white supremacist rallies by helping an organization that combats hate groups.
The actor and his lawyer wife teamed up with Southern Poverty Law Center through the Clooney Foundation for Justice. In a statement released to PEOPLE, George took a stance against bigotry.
“Amal and I wanted to add our voice (and financial assistance) to the ongoing fight for equality,” George said. “There are no two sides to bigotry and hate.”
The Clooney Foundation for Justice, co-founded by the couple in 2016, works to advance justice in courtrooms, classrooms and communities around the world. The foundation recently partnered up with UNICEF to open seven public schools for Syrian refugees in Amal’s native Lebanon.
The Southern Poverty Law Center is a nonprofit organization monitoring the activities of domestic hate groups and other extremists.
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The grant comes after a “Unite the Right” rally, organized to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia, turned deadly.
Heather Heyer, 32, was killed and at least 19 others were injured when a driver rammed his car into a group of counter-protesters.[/size]

By the way (a bit OT, but not really):
I just watched a docu on German TV. On August 22nd 1992 (so exactly 25 years ago), people in Rostock, a city in East Germany, started to protest against an initial reception facility. This led to heavy violent protests, right-wing extremists from all over Germany besieged his facility and a residential home for Vietnamese workers. The police was helpless and also planless, so it continued for five days. Fortunately, nobody was injured badly because the residents stayed inside and escaped to the roof of the houses.
After that, our politicians realized how many right-wing extremists we have in Germany. In West Germany, it was always antigonized but still existed. The GDR government had always denied that right-wing extremism and Neo Nazis existed in their country, and after the reunification in 1990 we had more urgent problems. This came back to roost...

Interesting story carolhathaway.  Sadly the election of Trump has caused a reemergence of white nationalism/neo-nazi groups in our country. They feel newly empowered.  They have someone in the White House who sympathizes with their cause, despite what he tells the public.  

George and Amal did a really good thing by showing their support for fighting hate, racism and bigotry.  
The SPLC does good work and we need their activism more than ever in protecting everyone's civil rights in the U.S.

Donna.
unfortunately he and his actions send a message to white supramists, they have the feeling that he's their president, acts for them. Not just in the States, in many other countries as well, and that includes mine. When you try to talk to them,you realize very quickly that you can't reach them with arguments, and that's just frightening me. Do we have to accept that they live in a parallel universe? And that's why the SPLC is so important (and hopefully, their example can be used in other countries as well.

Carol, I have come to the conclusion that Trump's supporters are really a lost cause.  They are and will continue to stand by Trump.  We have a real cultural divide in our country right now that has been exacerbated by Trump's election.  Trump continues to feed his followers with his divisive rhetoric.  He can never unite our country.  And even when he is gone there will be a real chasm in our country that will take years to change.  

It will take loud voices from organizations like the SPLC and other civil rights organizations plus stronger democratic leadership to correct the wrong direction in which we are headed.