Representative Keith Ellison chose Amazon Prime Day to send Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos a letter that called for him to pull all “hate group” products, including books from the company’s inventory.
Ellison, a Muslim Representative from Minnesota and Deputy Chair of the Democratic National Committee, chastised Amazon for allowing “hateful merchandise” to be sold on its website. He wrote:
“I would like to know whether Amazon is committed to ceasing the sale of all products that promote hateful and racist ideologies. For a company with a policy prohibiting the sale of ‘products that promote or glorify hatred, violence, racial, sexual, or religious intolerance or promote organizations with such views,’ there appear to be a disturbing number of groups with hateful, racist, and violent agendas making money using Amazon’s platform.”
Though he specified concerns about “neo-nazis and white nationalist writers,” his opening paragraph referring to SPLC-designated “hate groups” should be cause for alarm. The second in command of the Democratic National Committee wants Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to allow the Southern Poverty Law Center to identify “hate speech!”
Ellison boldly endorses the SPLC as a “reliable, unbiased arbiter of what is and isn’t a hate group.” However, the SPLC is being challenged in court for tagging groups with broad support such as the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Family Research Council with the “hate group” label. This due to those groups’ opposition to abortion, advocacy for traditional marriage, and other conservative causes.
A Religious Freedom Coalition spokesman described Bezos as “a radical liberal on social issues,” and noted that Amazon has banned several hundred conservative and pro-family organizations from taking advantage of AmazonSmile – a program which allows customers to donate a small fraction of their purchase to selected charities.
The Religious Freedom Coalition was ejected from AmazonSmile because SPLC labeled it a “hate group.” Other such banned groups include Liberty Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom, the American Family Association, and Coral Ridge Ministries.
Like the mainstream media, Ellison assumes that the SPLC is a reliable, unbiased arbiter of what is and isn’t a hate group. Now Amazon, with a virtual monopoly on book sales in the United States, appears about to cow down to his demands.
Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch observed:
“The far-Left Bezos likely also thinks that the SPLC is a reliable authority, and so it is entirely possible that he will comply with Ellison’s demands and purge Amazon of all materials by people that the SPLC has smeared and defamed. Given Amazon’s dominance of the book market, that would be a serious blow to the freedom of speech, as the SPLC is making an all-out attempt to delegitimize the full spectrum of opinion that dissents from the Leftist agenda — on Islam, immigration, social issues and more. If Amazon drops SPLC-designated “hate” material, there should ensue a national discussion about whether the SPLC is really a reliable authority, and whether only one viewpoint should be allowed in the public square. If not, this will just be another nail in the coffin of the freedom of speech in the U.S.”
Keith Ellison was at one time a member of a racist black nationalist hate group – the Nation of Islam – and reportedly met with Louis Farrakhan in the past. So Ellison wants Amazon to ban “hate speech” while he dines with the man who said, “The Jews don’t like Farrakhan, so they call me Hitler. Well, that’s a good name. Hitler was a very great man,” or “White people deserve to die, and they know, so they think it’s us coming to do it.”
Ellison has spoken at a convention of ISNA, the Islamic Society of North America even though it admits to having ties with Hamas. The Justice Department actually classified ISNA among entities “who are and/or were members of the US Muslim Brotherhood.”
The Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) raised significant amounts for Ellison’s first campaign, and he has spoken at numerous CAIR events. The Justice Department has named CAIR an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case. CAIR officials have repeatedly refused to denounce Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist groups and Ellison continues to defend both organizations.
The question now is how long will conservative, patriotic, Americans keep putting out $100 a year for Amazon Prime Day and two-day free shipping before either Jeff Bezos says no to fascists like Keith Ellison or take their business elsewhere?
~ American Liberty Report
