Morris Dees to speak at Sacramento State

Jill Freedman
Special to the Hornet
Published November 4, 1999

Morris Dees is scheduled to speak on hate crimes and racial tolerance in the University Union Ballroom on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

"We have had several hate crimes in the area recently and we wanted to bring Dees in to speak about tolerance," said Dean Sorenson, program advisor of the University Union.

Morris Dees is a lawyer in Montgomery, Ala. and is co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit organization based on fighting for civil rights and educating people against racism.

Originally, the SPLC was founded to take on civil rights court cases for minorities that few other attorneys would. Dees has successfully sued the Ku Klux Klan several times.

Today the SPLC is internationally known for its racial tolerance education, its tracking of hate groups, and the legal action it takes against racist organizations.

Dees also founded Klanwatch, a group that was created in 1981 to track the Ku Klux Klan. Today Klanwatch also tracks racist and nazi groups. Klanwatch currently monitors over 400 organizations with anti-government views. Some of these groups are racially based while others are not.

Tickets for Dees' lecture are available at the campus box office.

This event is sponsored by the University Union, the Multicultural Center, the U.S. Attorney's office, and the Association for Human Rights and Fair Housing.