Complete 2 pages APA formatted article: Website for an organization which has a campaign promoting a core issue that interests you.

Complete 2 pages APA formatted article: Website for an organization which has a campaign promoting a core issue that interests you. The website chosen for this assignment is http www.splcenter.org. This site is home to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) founded by Morris Dees. This organization helps fight discrimination, hate, and racism in American society through legal and teaching methods. The goal is accomplished by the SPLC by the following mission statement:

We track the activities of hate groups and domestic terrorists across America, and we launch innovative lawsuits that seek to destroy networks of radical extremists.

We use the courts and other forms of advocacy to win systemic reforms on behalf of victims of bigotry and discrimination.

We provide educators with free resources that teach school children to reject hate, embrace diversity and respect differences. (SPLC 2013)

These three methods are used to combat discrimination, hate, and racism in American society.

The primary message of this website is no matter race, religion, sexuality, or creed everyone living in the United States should have equal rights and opportunity under fair laws. If the law is unjust as it was in the Southern States in the pre-Civil Rights Movement, the laws must be challenged and changed. Morris Dees SPLC uses current laws to bring lawsuits to change current unjust laws. One example is when Dees sued the United Klans of America on behalf of Beulah Mae Donald. Donald’s son had been killed due to the Klan’s incitement toward violence against blacks. This suit bankrupted the last majorly nationally organized Ku Klux Klan in the United States. By challenging unfair laws and bring lawsuits, the SPLC has challenged and won lawsuits against discrimination against those living in the United States.

The primary message is written with photographs at the top. These messages are informative. The website is set up like a news organization. Articles are current news around the United States involving issues of discrimination against minorities, Lesbians, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT), and immigrants. The message is clear. Although America does have more tolerant laws today than in the 1950’s, there is much work to still be done.

The target audience is average Americans that might not be aware of incidents of discriminations in their area. An example is the Hate Watch map. The Hate Watch map tracks hate groups. These groups are skinheads, KKK, black panthers, anti-government groups, and any group that promotes hate against others. The map shows the locations of hate group members and more information on each group. It must be noted that although the SPLC was founded during the Civil Rights Movement, the group is not anti-white or pro-black. The SPLC was founded to promote equality among all Americans.

The SPLC also has teaching material for educators to teach children. These messages are targeted toward the younger audience. These materials, books, worksheets, videos, and recordings are provided for free. History and current events are covered in these materials. The materials can be requested by a teacher or adult for free.

The noise or confusion that is on this site has to do with the blurbs or summary of the articles. Buzz words like ‘extremist’, ‘pervasive’, ‘diligently’, ‘harassment’, and so forth are used. These words evoke strong emotions. I believe that a good website would just state plain facts instead of emotion. However, this technique is very effective. I guess the SPLC believes so as well.

Bibliography

SPLC. (2013). http://www.splcenter.org.