Dees' appearance draws animostiy outside Koger
Tecla Markosky
Issue date: 3/1/06 Section: News
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Four men gathered with a toilet Monday night on the corner of Greene and Assembly streets to protest Spectrum speaker Morris Dees.
The men, representatives from various local Southern heritage groups, were armed with signs that read "Dees is a Sleaze" and "Morris Dees Hates Our Southern Culture," and pamphlets that disclosed information about the civil rights lawyer's organization, the Southern Poverty Law Center. They chanted and chatted with passing lecture-goers.
As one woman passed she said, "You have the right to be here but don't bother me with your crap."
The protestors responded to her by hooting and yelling, "She's a liberal! Typical liberal!"
Chilled and thrilled, the protestors were adamant about telling lecture-goers what they called "the truth about Morris Dees."
"I want to tell people about Morris Dees' fundraising ethics," said Kyle Rogers of the Council of Conservative Citizens. "He takes in tens of millions of dollars. He's got an endowment that's up to $100 million. Dees pays himself $300,000 a year, plus bonuses. Only a tiny percentage of that goes to any civil rights project."
In response to Carolina Productions' decision to invite Dees to speak at USC, Rogers shook his head.
"Obviously, I think it's a waste," he said. "I think the students' tuition and the taxpayer's money could be going to better stuff."
Rogers said Dees spends about 15 cents on the dollar for civil rights projects and heads up one of the worst non-profit organizations in terms of fund management.
"We just want to let people know that it's all a big hustle," he said. "We want people to know there's no cause behind Morris Dees. If they give money to Morris Dees, it's not going to go to anything. It's a made-up cause."
There were several divisions of law enforcement present at the protest including Richland County Police, USC Police and the FBI. Rogers said the heightened level of law enforcement was unnecessary.
The men, representatives from various local Southern heritage groups, were armed with signs that read "Dees is a Sleaze" and "Morris Dees Hates Our Southern Culture," and pamphlets that disclosed information about the civil rights lawyer's organization, the Southern Poverty Law Center. They chanted and chatted with passing lecture-goers.
As one woman passed she said, "You have the right to be here but don't bother me with your crap."
The protestors responded to her by hooting and yelling, "She's a liberal! Typical liberal!"
Chilled and thrilled, the protestors were adamant about telling lecture-goers what they called "the truth about Morris Dees."
"I want to tell people about Morris Dees' fundraising ethics," said Kyle Rogers of the Council of Conservative Citizens. "He takes in tens of millions of dollars. He's got an endowment that's up to $100 million. Dees pays himself $300,000 a year, plus bonuses. Only a tiny percentage of that goes to any civil rights project."
In response to Carolina Productions' decision to invite Dees to speak at USC, Rogers shook his head.
"Obviously, I think it's a waste," he said. "I think the students' tuition and the taxpayer's money could be going to better stuff."
Rogers said Dees spends about 15 cents on the dollar for civil rights projects and heads up one of the worst non-profit organizations in terms of fund management.
"We just want to let people know that it's all a big hustle," he said. "We want people to know there's no cause behind Morris Dees. If they give money to Morris Dees, it's not going to go to anything. It's a made-up cause."
There were several divisions of law enforcement present at the protest including Richland County Police, USC Police and the FBI. Rogers said the heightened level of law enforcement was unnecessary.
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