Chattanooga’s “Hate Council” Reported To Have Worked With Group To Label Conservative Organizations As Hate Groups
Image: (Pictured) – Former Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke Image Credit: Public Domain & Chattanooga.gov
The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –
A Chattanooga council started to oppose “hate” and “extremism” in 2018 has been found to have worked heavily with a far-left group known for labeling Conservative organizations as “hate groups” and lumping them together with extremist groups.
The Council Against Hate was started in 2018 by then-mayor of Chattanooga Andy Berke. In his announcement, he made mention of a 2015 shooting and said the city could “be a model of how to stop the hate that inspires it in the first place.”
Despite the fact that then-FBI Director James Comey attributed the cause of the shooting to “foreign terrorist organization propaganda,” the Council Against Hate has not sought to combat such ideology.
Instead, the group has worked in conjunction with the Southern Poverty Law Center to focus on “hard-right extremists,” according to records obtained by The Daily Signal. The two organizations met first via Zoom in August 2018 and then three times in 2020.
In 2019, Kerry Hayes, who served as Berke’s chief of staff, did a podcast interview with Heidi Beirich, then-director of the SPLC’s Intelligence Project. This project involves plotting “hate groups” and “anti-government extremist groups” on a map.
Started as a way to plot Klan chapters, the “hate map” now includes a number of conservative Christian organizations, immigration-control organizations, and parental rights groups. These include the Center for Immigration Studies, the Family Research Council, and Moms for Liberty.
Beirich claims that “white supremacy” is pushing government policies and that the list “is a component of the levels of white supremacy and other forms of bigotry.”
The current Chattanooga Mayor, Tim Kelly, did not confirm whether the Council Against Hate has continued working with the SPLC.
About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career. Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History. Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com
Thanx for identifying this local problem. I moved to Chattanooga from California and I cannot tell you how important it is to illuminate these people. They will outlaw freedoms for groups like “Moms 4 Liberty” if given a chance. They do not quit and are rarely transparent.
Thanks for this article.
This is scary and reminds me of things the Not-zees did. It’s what authoritarian dictators do as a way to justify harming opponents. I haven’t heard of conservatives doing this to Libs. The idea that Moms for Liberty is dangerous is ridiculous.
The SPLC is an extremist and dangerous group that is authoritarian and anti-American.
Why are the cuck coward TN AG and DAs not going after these nazis?
Nyet.
So why would a hate group like Mom’s for Liberty mind being lumped in with those who share their white supremacist, anti-lgbtqia and anti anything not endorsed by the white supremacist evangelical christo-fascist nationalists and their churches