MLK’s pro-Trump niece makes wild claim as GOP seeks to end SPLC’s tax-exempt status
Dr. Alveda King, a frequent Fox News guest, was a witness at the House Judiciary Committee hearing.
Mason Reed 
The niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Dr. Alveda King, delivered a series of explosive claims during a heated House Judiciary Committee hearing this Tuesday. The hearing, titled “Manufacturing Hate,” scrutinized the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in the wake of a recent federal indictment alleging the organization secretly provided funding to hate groups, including the Ku Klux Klan.
Combative Testimony
During her testimony, Alveda King accused the SPLC of exploiting racial tensions for profit. She leveled a stark allegation against the organization, asking Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., if the SPLC pays individuals to commit bombings and then subsequently pays the same entities to provide comfort, calling it a form of fraud that is both “weird and chaotic.”
When Raskin challenged King to provide evidence for the claim, noting there are no current allegations that any SPLC worker directly participated in bombings, she referenced her personal history from 1963. “I don’t personally [have evidence]. But outside agitators, they had bombed our house in ’63 and then ran back and took off the Ku Klux Klan sheets and put on police things and ran up in the yard,” King stated. Raskin, in response, acknowledged the systemic racism of police forces collaborating with the KKK during that era but maintained that King had not provided evidence to support her specific accusations against the SPLC under oath.
Escalating Scrutiny
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, amplified the pressure on the organization during the proceedings. Jordan alleged that the SPLC funded organizers of the 2017 Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally and pointed to a sharp increase in the group’s annual income following the event, where counter-protester Heather Heyer was killed. “You run a scam, you become the standard, you don’t get prosecuted and you make a ton of money,” Jordan claimed.
SPLC Interim President and CEO Bryan Fair appeared at the hearing to defend the organization. He maintained that the SPLC’s intelligence-gathering program was designed to save lives by sharing information on hate groups with law enforcement, including the FBI. In a follow-up statement provided to 205focus.com, Fair expressed outrage over the allegations, asserting, “The actions by the DOJ will not shake our resolve to fight for justice.”
As the legal battle unfolds, the pressure continues to mount outside the hearing room. Conservative voices, including Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., and groups like Moms of Liberty, are actively calling for the federal government to strip the SPLC of its tax-exempt status.
