Few people are qualified to address some of the key issues facing our
country caused by the September 11 tragedy than Morris Dees. He has
successfully tracked and fought domestic terrorists for twenty years. He knows
what America
faces in its war against terrorism. He also has a powerful tolerance message to
stem the tide of hate crimes against those who resemble the terrorists. His
message is one of hope, and of turning this tragedy into America’s
finest hour.
Over the course of his career, Dees
has done much to promote diversity. His
efforts have resulted in many achievements, including the Civil Rights
Memorial, lawsuits that bankrupted the KKK and imprisoned perpetrators of hate
crimes, and increased awareness of radical militias. He is chief trial counsel for The Southern
Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit group he co-founded in 1971, which specializes
in lawsuits involving civil rights violations, domestic terrorists and racially
motivated crimes.
When Klan members lynched an African-American man in Mobile, Alabama,
in 1981, civil rights lawyer Dees--and the Southern Poverty Law Center he
founded--launched an historic lawsuit. They sued the Klan for inciting violence
and won a $7 million-dollar precedent-setting judgment. In 1990, Dees won a
$12.5 million verdict for the family of an Ethiopian murdered by Skinheads in Oregon. In 1998, he obtained a $37.8 million verdict
against the Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan for the burning of the Macedonia Baptist
Church in South Carolina. The $37.8 million award was
the largest civil award ever won for damages in a verdict.
In
the courtroom yet again, Dees won another
landmark trial—this time his victim was the Aryan Nation. On September 7, 2000, a
jury awarded $6.3 million to a woman and her son, saying that white supremacist
leader Richard Butler was negligent in letting guards from his Aryan Nations
compound chase down and shoot at Victoria Keenan and her son Jason in
1998.
Using
the law like a sword, Dees continues his battles
as chief trial counsel and chair of the executive committee for the Center. He
has devoted his time to developing ideas for "Teaching Tolerance,"
the Center's well-regarded education project.
To
help educate young people about the civil rights movement, Dees
pushed for the construction of the Civil Rights Memorial. Designed by Maya Lin,
the monument, bearing the names of 40 men, women and children who lost their
lives during the civil rights movement, was dedicated in 1989 in Montgomery, Alabama.
Over
the years, he has devoted his time to educating people about America’s
radical militia movement. In his
brilliant 1996 expose, Gathering Storm:
America’s Militia Threat, Dees explores the dangers these groups
represent. He continues to track domestic
terrorists.
A
graduate of the University of Alabama Law School, Dees
has received numerous accolades in conjunction with his work at the Center. His
honors include being named a "Trial Lawyer of the Year" by the Trial
Lawyers for Public Justice, and receiving the National Education Association’s
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Award.
In
addition to Gathering Storm: America’s
Militia Threat, Dees has written two other books: his autobiography, A Lawyers Journey; and Hate on Trial:The Case
Against America's
Most Dangerous Neo-Nazi. A
made-for-television movie about his life, Line
of Fire, aired on NBC on January
25, 1991. Actor Corbin Bernson portrayed Dees in the film.
Dees
was portrayed by Wayne Rogers in Ghosts
of the Mississippi, a feature film released in 1996 about the life of slain
civil rights worker Medgar Evers. HBO premiered a
documentary, titled HATE.com, in the
fall of 2000 hosted by Dees; it covered the
issue of hate crimes and the Internet.