Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) president Richard Cohen responded to the Charleston, South Carolina church shooting by saying that hate groups are on the rise because President Obama is a black man in the White House.

Cohen’s official statement on the June 17 massacre at Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church called the shooting “an obvious hate crime by someone who feels threatened by our country’s changing demographics and the increasing prominence of African Americans in public life.”

But apparently President Obama’s election had something to do with it according to the SPLC, a decidedly leftwing nonprofit legal advocacy group.

“Since 2000, we’ve seen an increase in the number of hate groups in our country – groups that vilify others on the basis of characteristics such as race or ethnicity,” Cohen said. “Though the numbers have gone down somewhat in the last two years, they are still at historically high levels.”

“The increase has been driven by a backlash to the country’s increasing racial diversity, an increase symbolized for many, by the presence of an African American in the White House,” Cohen stated.

Cohen then downplayed the threat of Islamic terror.

“Since 9/11, our country has been fixated on the threat of Jihadi terrorism. But the horrific tragedy at the Emmanuel AME reminds us that the threat of homegrown domestic terrorism is very real.”

The SPLC statement, which features a “Donate” button, is not the first time the SPLC has engaged in divisive rhetoric.

The SPLC’s “Hate Map” inspired unhinged left-winger Floyd Corkins II to try to shoot up the Family Research Council in 2012. Corkins, who planned to smear his victims’ dead faces with Chic-fil-A sandwiches, was apprehended after wounding a heroic security guard at the conservative group’s Washington, D.C. headquarters.

An SPLC report last year warned of the rise of “far-right extremists” who oppose the Common Core school reform standards.

The SPLC also placed conservative commentator Dr. Ben Carson on its “Extremist Watch List.”

Dylann Storm Roof, 21, is currently in custody, suspected of perpetrating the church shooting.

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