Tagged: civil rights

A civil rights group that tracks extremist groups warns that President Obama's tenure and the gun control debate after the Connecticut school shooting have led to surging numbers of anti-government "patriot" groups.

The Southern Poverty Law Center on Tuesday reported the rising numbers as it released its annual report on extremist groups.

The number of patriot groups, one category of extremist organizations tracked by the center, has risen dramatically over the past four years, from 149 groups in 2008 to 1,360 today.

The United States Commission on Civil Rights is in Birmingham today (August 17, 2012) to discuss the effects of the state's recently enacted immigration laws on the civil rights of individuals. The commission will mainly focus on the effects of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case of Arizona's immigration law on other state's with similar legislation. Mary Bauer is the legal director at the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery and is one of the speakers at the hearing. She says the impact of Alabama's law has been far reaching.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The victims slain by a gunman in a Wisconsin temple will be honored during a memorial in Alabama. The Civil Rights Memorial Center will join churches and other organizations Sunday to mark the attack the killed six people at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis. The gunman, Wade Michael Page, took his own life after shooting at police responding to the scene. In Alabama, the event will be held in front of the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, which honors those who died during the Civil Rights movement. The memorial is scheduled for 6 p.m.

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The civil rights organization co-founded by Martin Luther King Junior meets in Sanford, Florida today for its annual convention. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference has struggled in recent years with leadership battles and declining membership. Now members want to rebrand the SCLC. Here's NPR's Kathy Lohr.