If you haven’t seen the news, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) was recently indicted for wire fraud, false statements, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. From the Department of Justice Press Release:
Between 2014 and 2023, the SPLC secretly funneled more than $3 million in donated funds to individuals who were associated with various violent extremist groups including: Ku Klux Klan, United Klans of America, Unite the Right, National Alliance, National Socialist Movement, Aryan Nations affiliated Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club, National Socialist Party of America (American Nazi Party), and American Front.
According to the indictment, the objective of the scheme and artifice was to obtain money via donations through materially false representations and omissions about what the donated funds would be used for.
In short, the SPLC - a group dedicated to eliminating racism and extremism - defrauded its donors by promising to root out white supremacy while funding white supremacy. Talk about job security!
The Maryland Freedom Caucus is breaking down what this means for Maryland:
The Southern Poverty Law Center is part of a vast network of NGOs that have been working to entrench their critical race theory/DEI practices into every aspect of society - starting with our public schools. That’s where their Learning for Justice curriculum comes into play.
Learning for Justice is the SPLC’s platform for “offering learning for civic and political action to build an inclusive, multiracial democracy”. It also presents the framework under which the Maryland State Department of Education developed its mandatory anti-bias training for educators and school board members.
The Southern Poverty Law Center and the Maryland Democrats have a lot in common - they both want to make Maryland children more racist in order to fight racism. It brings in the donor dollars and keeps our communities divided.
In 2024, the Maryland General Assembly passed HB 1386, mandating anti-bias training for all public school employees. Then, in 2025, that mandate expanded to school board members with SB 293. The purpose of the training is to teach white teachers that they are inherently biased and racist and that they need to identify and address all instances of racial bias with their students and colleagues, or they risk permanent damage.
The stated goal of anti-bias training is to instill the concepts in teachers so that this critical race theory concept is embedded in the classroom environment and in the teacher's teaching style. So, even if it isn’t “in the curriculum,” it is certainly being taught.
In the Maryland training, participants must take a test after the first session to measure their “implicit biases” using the Implicit Association Test, which has been thoroughly dismantled as junk science. Many critics of “anti-bias trainings” come to the same conclusion: they rarely lead to long-term behavior change, but instead increase guilt and shame in employees who become so aware of stereotypes they are supposed to ignore that there is a rebound effect. This is a feature, not a bug.
That’s because in the anti-bias training, there is an overt emphasis on WHITE students being the root of the problems with other students. In the MSDE anti-bias training manual, six out of nine sample scenarios for discussion identify white students as the perpetrators of “systemic racism”, “microaggressions”, and “religious discrimination” - even as young as 7 years old.
For the past two legislative sessions, 2025 and 2026, the Maryland Democrats have brought forth a bill that looks innocuous, but the Senate has rightly killed it both years because of what it is hiding.
Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day (HB4386) passed the House of Delegates again this year with overwhelming bipartisan support.
But the bill is more of this “Southern Poverty Law Center agenda” disguised as history and advocacy for walking. Inside the bill contains this line:
This kind of bill language is the biggest tell that the special interest behind the bill has a curriculum or agenda they are ready to sell to MSDE immediately upon implementation. That’s how the SPLC's anti-bias training framework became the basis for Maryland’s mandatory training so quickly.
It is no secret that Ruby Bridges is central to SPLC’s platform and curriculum:
A search of “Ruby Bridges” inside SPLC’s Learning for Justice platform returns a wealth of resources for pitting young minority children against their white classmates to teach them the classic Marxist “oppressor versus oppressed” complex. Like this gem:
“Coming to terms with the understanding that “you are not racist, but your identity is inextricably linked to privilege and racism in this country” is tricky for white children.” - From the article, “When a First Grader is Called a Racist”
I joined the Maryland Freedom Caucus in voting NO on the Ruby Bridges Bill this year and last. We will remain a no vote every time it is introduced, because we are sending the clear message that SPLC does not belong in the institutions that influence our children.
Office Contact
If you have a concern, legislative idea, or constituent issue you need assistance with, please call my office at (410) 841-3698 or email me at kathy.szeliga@house.maryland.gov. Please be sure to follow me on Facebook and X, or visit my website at MarylandKathy.com.
God Bless,
Delegate Kathy Szeliga
Maryland House of Delegates
Vice Chair, Maryland Freedom Caucus
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.