Investigation Discovery’s (ID) powerful Hate In America documentary series premieres tonight [February 29] at 8/7c.
Hosted by Emmy Award-winning journalist Tony Harris, Hate In America builds upon the special that aired in 2015 on the ID channel and showcases stories from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), an organization fighting hate and bigotry for over 40 years.
A series preview was shown at a private media screening and panel discussion at New York City’s Paley Center last week, moderated by Harris and featuring SPLC execs Richard Cohen (President), Heidi Beirich (Intelligence Project Director) and remarks from Kerry Kennedy, president of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights.
Kennedy spoke warmly of SPLC’s brave founder Morris Dees, calling him “a hero of civil rights” and sharing that “over 30 people have gone to prison for plots to assassinate Morris Dees.” Unable to attend the screening, Dees himself sent this message to the captivated audience: “It’s documentaries like Hate In America that show America we need to stand together and stand strong in our fight against hate.” His partner Cohen chimed in: “I wish Donald Trump was here just to watch this and see.”
The passionate and commanding Beirich shed light on the growth of “hate” in America in recent years (according to the SPLC’s 2015 Intelligence Report, the number of extremist groups operating domestically grew by 14 percent from 2014 and the SPLC catalogued an astounding 892 hate groups in the US, including neo-Nazis, white nationalists, Black separatists, Klansmen and other groups that target the LGBT community) and compared today’s climate to times gone by. “It’s a new version of the Southern strategy we saw in the 60s,” she shared. “Everything they [white, Anglo Saxon Protestants] believe in has gone backwards since the 60s, since the Civil Rights movement.”
In the first episode of the series airing tonight, titled The Klan on Trial, Harris explores some of the SPLC’s most riveting court cases, starting with the Michael Donald case: a heinous lynching of a young man in the early 1980s that prompted SPLC founder Dees to sue the United Klans of America (UKA) on behalf of the victim’s mother. In this landmark court decision, the UKA’s violent leadership was held responsible for the unspeakably violent and racist acts of its members, helping to turn the tide against organized hate in our country.
Hate In America is a joint production by Investigation Discovery, NBC News’ Peacock Productions and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
