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Civil Rights lawyer speaks at WCU
By Justin Goble
 A renowned civil rights lawyer shared his message at Western Carolina University last Tuesday night (Feb. 28).
Morris Dees, a founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center and well-known advocate for social justice spoke about the social problems currently facing the nation, as well as those that will arise in the future.
Supporting his autobiography, “A Lawyer’s Journey: the Morris Dees Story,” Dees spoke at the Fine and Performing Arts Center as a part of a series of lectures he gives during Black History Month.
“I like to make three or four talks during Black History Month,” Dees said. “I like to stay close to home, and I like going to medium-sized colleges in the South.”
The focus of his lecture was the changing relationships between races in America. Before the program, Dees told The Herald that the landscape of the nation is already changing, and within a century it will look much different than it does today.
“Over the next 50 years, whites are going to be a minority in this country,” Dees said. “There has been a very large increase in the hispanic, asian and black populations in America. People are going to have to deal with the issue or the issue will deal with them. They have to be a part of it or get run over by it.”
Along with the shifting racial landscape, Dees contends that race will soon become a secondary issue to class. He pointed to criticisms leveled at the Hurricane Katrina evacuation in New Orleans as evidence for his claim.
“In the future, it’s going to be more of a class issue,” he said. “Katrina pointed that out to us. If you look at the evacuation route, it was designed for people who had SUVs and cars. Those without (their own transportation) were ignored.”
That’s not to say racism isn’t part of American culture today. Dees said because people are at least one generation removed from the Civil Rights movement, they don’t realize there are those out there who still discriminate solely on racial grounds, he said..
“Some people say there’s no racism in the country today,” he said. “No one is forced to ride on the back of the bus anymore. There are doors open that weren’t open (before the Civil Rights movement). What people don’t realize is that there are more than 800 hate groups in America today. Around 700 of them have sites on the Internet. (Oklahoma City bomber) Timothy McVeigh is what we call an ‘Internet baby.’ He got all of his inspiration and information from things he found on the Internet. The country is changing, but there are those who want to hold it back. They’re afraid. Fear causes people to hate other people.”
Another part of the problem is what Dees called the “systemic, subtle biases” many people still hold towards people of ethnic backgrounds. He cited numerous sociological studies which show untrustworthy attitudes towards blacks and other minorities.
“White people don’t look in the mirror and think about the color of their skin like people of color do,” he said. “We don’t think that the color of our skin could stop us from getting a job.”
In an effort to combat these biases, Dees said it is important to teach tolerance and acceptance of all races, classes and cultures.
While most in attendance showed strong support, not everyone at WCU welcomed Dees and his message. Prior to his talk, protestors gathered outside the Fine and Performing Arts Center waving Confederate flags and talking with those in line to get in. Dees said he was unfazed despite the commotion.
“I’m not going to let some Confederate flags stop me from speaking,” Dees said before his lecture.
During the address, he kept to his refusal to let any of the protestors affect his message. Instead, he invited his detractors to sit and listen to what he had to say.
“Some people here are not friends,” Dees said. “I hope they didn’t just stay outside. I hope a few of them came inside to be a part of this. Maybe they can learn something.”
While there were a few hecklers in the audience, they were silent throughout the speech. When it came time for Dees to take questions, an African-American man dressed in a Confederate uniform shared a heated exchange with the attorney, referring to him as a “poverty pimp” because most of his legal settlements involved poor citizens.
Even with such an outburst, Dees stayed positive. He applauded the college students in attendance, saying they would be the ones to bring about the greatest changes in the upcoming years.
“The bridges built between cultures will be built out of friendship, admiration, respect and love,” Dees said. “It’s not easy building them, but I think we will overcome that. It’s not like we haven’t had bad days before. I think one day, 50 years down the road, someone will tell your story. I think it will be the story of the greatest generation.”
Born the son of an Alabama cotton farmer in 1936, Dees attended the University of Alabama, where he founded a nationwide direct-mail sales company that specialized in book publishing. After graduation from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1960, Dees opened a law office and continued his business in Montgomery, Ala.
The subject of a 1991 made-for-television movie that aired on NBC, Dees has received numerous honors in conjunction with his work at the Southern Poverty Law Center, including the Public Service Achievement Award from Common Cause in 1988, the Roger Baldwin Award from the American Civil Liberties Union in 1989, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Award from the National Education Association in 1990.
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