List of organizations designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as hate groups
Summary
The following is a list of U.S.-based organizations that are classified as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).[1] The SPLC is an American nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. The SPLC defines a hate group as "an organization that — based on its official statements or principles, the statements of its leaders, or its activities — has beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristic."[2] The SPLC states that "Hate group activities can include criminal acts, marches, rallies, speeches, meetings, leafleting or publishing" and adds that inclusion on its hate-group list "does not imply that a group advocates or engages in violence or other criminal activity."[1]
Since 1981, the SPLC's Intelligence Project has published a quarterly Intelligence Report, which monitors hate groups and extremist organizations in the United States.[3] The SPLC began an annual census of hate groups in 1990, releasing this census as part of its annual Year in Hate & Extremism report.[1][2][4][5] The SPLC listed 1,020 hate groups and hate-group chapters on its 2018 list—an all-time high fueled primarily by an increase in radical right groups.[2] The number of SPLC-designated active hate groups and hate-group chapters subsequently declined to 838 in 2020, and 733 in 2021.[4][6] The SPLC welcomed the criminal prosecutions of some of the perpetrators of the January 6 United States Capitol attack, but expressed alarm at the movement of ideas from the antidemocratic hard right into mainstream political discourse, writing: "The reactionary and racist beliefs that propelled a mob into the Capitol that day have not dissipated. Instead, they've coalesced into a political movement that is now one of the most powerful forces shaping politics in the United States."[4][6]
The Intelligence Report provides information regarding the organizational efforts and tactics of these groups, and it is cited by a number of scholars as a reliable and comprehensive source on U.S. hate groups.[7][8][9][10] The SPLC also publishes the HateWatch Weekly newsletter, which documents racism and extremism, and the Hatewatch blog.[11]
Historical trendsedit
In 1999, the SPLC listed 457 hate groups; that number steadily increased until 2011, when 1,018 groups were listed.[2][12][13] The rise from 2008 onward was attributed in part to anger at Barack Obama, the first black president of the United States.[2] Thereafter, the number of hate groups steadily dropped, reaching a low of 784 in 2014 (a 23% drop). However, between 2014 and 2018, the number of hate groups skyrocketed 30%, reaching 892 in 2015; 917 in 2016; 954 in 2017; 1,020 in 2018; and 940 in 2019.[14][15][2][16] According to Mark Potok at the SPLC, Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign speeches "demonizing statements about Latinos and Muslims have electrified the radical right, leading to glowing endorsements from white nationalist leaders such as Jared Taylor and former Klansman David Duke".[17] The relative strength of hate groups have varied over time; for example, the Ku Klux Klan has markedly declined, while other white supremacist groups have substantially strengthened.[2]: 39 In February 2018, the SPLC reported that black nationalist groups expanded to 233 chapters in the United States, up from 193 the previous year. The SPLC attributed this growth to a reaction to the mainstream rise of the alt-right, "the latest incarnation of white supremacy", along with the election of Trump as president. During the same year, neo-Nazi groups grew from 99 to 121, and anti-Muslim groups increased from 101 chapters to 114. Ku Klux Klan groups, meanwhile, fell from 130 groups to 72.[18]
Pundits, politicians, and some of the designated groups have objected to the SPLC's list. The Family Research Council disputed its designation in 2010,[19] and the Center for Immigration Studies disputed the SPLC anti-immigrant designation in 2016.[20] In January 2019, Center for Immigration Studies filed a lawsuit against the SPLC over the designation,[21] which was dismissed in September 2019.[22][23] The SPLC's hate group listings have also been criticized by some political observers and prominent Republicans.[24][25]
The Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as "the Klan", is the name of three distinct past and present groupings.[28]
The following groups have been listed as active Klan groups in the SPLC's annual reports (years in parentheses refer to the year in which the group is included):
The following groups have been listed as active neo-Nazi groups in the SPLC's annual reports (years in parentheses refer to the year in which the group is included):
Number of white nationalist hate groups listed over time[13][26][37][2][4]
Year
Number listed
2003
92
2004
99
2005
111
2006
110
2007
125
2008
111
2009
132
2010
136
2011
146
2012
135
2013
128
2014
115
2015
95
2016
100
2017
100
2018
148
2019
155
2021
98
The SPLC listed 148 white nationalist groups and chapters as active in 2018,[2] and 98 white nationalist groups and chapters as active in 2021.[4] Its 2018 report noted: "White nationalist groups espouse white supremacist or white separatist ideologies, often focusing on the alleged inferiority of nonwhites. Groups listed in a variety of other categories — Ku Klux Klan, neo-Confederate, neo-Nazi, racist skinhead and Christian Identity — could also be fairly described as white nationalist."[2] The following groups have been listed as active white separatist/white nationalist groups in the SPLC's annual reports (years in parentheses refer to the year in which the group is included):
The SPLC defines racist skinhead as "a particularly violent element of the white supremacist movement," often "referred to as the 'shock troops' of the hoped-for revolution."[2] An offshoot of the skinheadsubculture, racist skinheads promote antisemitism in addition to white supremacy.[41][42] The SPLC's reports have noted that the racist skinhead movement "flourished during the 1980s through the 1990s and into the mid-2000s"[4] but has declined since 2012, losing ground to "the racist 'alt-right' and new, younger neo-Nazi and white nationalist groups who are organizing themselves across diffuse social networking sites and platforms."[2] The SPLC noted in its 2021 reportL "With almost no young recruits, the racist skinhead movement's prominence within this country's white power movement has diminished steadily for years."[4]
The following groups have been listed as active racist skinhead groups in the SPLC's annual reports (years in parentheses refer to the year in which the group is included):
Number of extreme antigovernment groups over time[2][4]
Year
Number listed
2014
874
2015
998
2016
623
2017
689
2018
612
2021
488
The SPLC's 2021 report states: "Groups we list as antigovernment see the federal government as an enemy of the people and promote baseless conspiracy theories generally involving a secret cabal of elites seeking to institute a global, totalitarian government – a 'New World Order."[4] The SPLC notes that the antigovernment movement includes the militia movement (including paramilitary organizations, such as the Three Percenters (also styled III%ers) and Oath Keepers); the "sovereign citizen" movement, which rejects the government's authority; the so-called "constitutional sheriff" movement, which holds that local sheriffs are the highest authority and can disregard federal laws; and tax protestor movement that claims that income taxes are unconstitutional and seeks to avoid paying such taxes.[4][44][2]
SPLC notes that antigovernment groups "engage in groundless conspiracy theorizing, or advocate or adhere to extreme antigovernment doctrines"[44] and added: "Antigovernment groups do not necessarily advocate or engage in violence or other criminal activities, though some have. Many warn of impending government violence or the need to prepare for a coming revolution. Many antigovernment groups are not racist."[44]
The SPLC designated 566 extreme antigovernment groups as active in 2020,[40] and 488 extreme antigovernment groups as active in 2021.[4]
Of the 488 organizations designated as active in 2021, 92 were militia groups, 75 were "sovereign citizen" groups, three were "constitutional sheriff" groups, and 52 were "conspiracy propagandist" groups.[4]
Wild Bill for America (2020, 2021, 2022)[40][4][5]
Neo-Confederateedit
Number of neo-Confederate hate groups listed over time[13][26][46][2][4]
Year
Number listed
2003
91
2004
97
2005
99
2006
102
2007
104
2008
93
2009
68
2010
42
2011
32
2012
30
2013
36
2014
37
2015
35
2016
43
2017
31
2018
36
2021
16
The SPLC classifies neo-Confederate groups as those with "a reactionary, revisionist predilection for symbols of the Confederate States of America, typically paired with a strong belief in the validity of the failed doctrines of nullification and secession — in the specific context of the antebellum South."[46]
The following groups have been listed as active neo-Confederate groups in the SPLC's annual reports (years in parentheses refer to the year in which the group is included):
The following groups have been listed as Christian Identity hate groups in the SPLC's annual reports (years in parentheses refer to the year in which the group is included):
The following groups have been listed as active anti-LGBT hate groups in the SPLC's annual reports (years in parentheses refer to the year in which the group is included):
Sixty-five organizations were designated under this classification in 2021.[4]
In its 2021 report, SPLC classified 61 organizations under the category of antisemitism as a "standalone ideology," while also noting the antisemitism "also undergirds much of the far right, unifying adherents across various hate ideologies."[4]Holocaust denial is one hallmark of antisemitic organizations.[4] Eighteen organizations were classified under this designation in the 2021 SPLC report.[4]
SPLC previously had a Holocaust denial hate group category.[13][26][57][2] In 2020, SPLC began to designating hate groups under a broader "antisemitism" category, and noted in its report for the following year that "2021 is the first year that those groups have been pulled out from under the General Hate ideology umbrella and featured on their own exclusive map."[4] SPLC's report notes that this category is "Made up largely of hate groups that deny and obscure facts about the Holocaust, as well as chapters of the Nation of Islam."[4]
The following groups have been listed as active Holocaust denial groups in the SPLC's annual reports (years in parentheses refer to the year in which the group is included):
Campaign for Radical Truth in History (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017)[58][13][57]
carolynyeager.net (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022) – listed in the white nationalist category in 2014–2015, in the Holocaust denial category from 2016 to 2020, and in the antisemitism category in 2021.[35][13][26][57][2][4][5]
Nation of Islam (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022) - listed in the "black separatist" category from 2014 to 2016, in the "black nationalist" category in 2017–2019, and in the antisemitism category in 2021[59][13][26][60][2][4][5]
The International Conspiratological Association (2014, 2015)[58][13]
The Realist Report (2016, 2017, 2018, 2022)[26][57][2][5]
Neo-Völkischedit
In its 2017 report (issued in 2018), the SPLC added neo-VölkischAsatru pagan groups to its hate group list for the first time. The SPLC described these groups as "[b]orn out of an atavistic defiance of modernity and rationalism" and characterized by "organized ethnocentricity and archaic notions of gender."[61] In its 2021 report, SPLC listed 32 groups and group chapters under the neo-Völkisch category.[4]
Gallows Tree Wotansvolk Alliance (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018)[34][13][26][61][2] – listed from 2014 to 2016 in neo-Nazi category, moved to Neo-Völkisch category beginning in 2017)
Wolves of Vinland (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022)[13][26][61][2][4] – listed in 2015–2016 in the white separatist/nationalist category, moved to Neo-Völkisch category beginning in 2017[61][5]
In its 2021 report, SPLC listed 50 groups and group chapters under the anti-Muslim category.[4]
The following groups have been listed as anti-Muslim hate groups in the SPLC's annual reports (years in parentheses refer to the year in which the group is included):
The following groups have been listed as other or miscellaneous hate groups in the SPLC's annual reports (years in parentheses refer to the year in which the group is included):
In the 2021 SPLC report, 295 groups and group chapters were listed in the "general hate" category, including 11 in the "hate music" category, 1 in the "male supremacy" category, 9 in the "radical traditionalist Catholic" category, and 274 in the "other" category.[4]
The following groups have been listed as active racist music/hate music groups in the SPLC's annual reports (years in parentheses refer to the year in which the group is included):
The SPLC added misogynistic male supremacy groups to its hate groups list for the first time in its 2017 report (issued in 2018), stating, "The vilification of women by these groups makes them no different than other groups that demean entire populations, such as the LGBT community, Muslims or Jews, based on their inherent characteristics."[18]
According to the SPLC, radical traditionalist Catholics, who "may make up the largest single group of serious anti-Semites in America", subscribe to an ideology that is rejected by the Vatican and some 70 million mainstream American Catholics.[72] They are highly associated with sedevacantism and integrism, the latter of which the SPLC uses as a synonym for radical-traditionalist positions.[72][73]
The following groups have been listed as active radical traditional Catholic hate groups in the SPLC's annual reports (years in parentheses refer to the year in which the group is included):
Alliance for Catholic Tradition (2014, 2015)[74][13]
Catholic Action Resource Center (2014, 2015)[74][13]
Number of black separatist hate groups listed over time[13][26][60][2]
Year
Number listed
2003
136
2004
108
2005
106
2006
88
2007
81
2008
112
2009
121
2010
149
2011
140
2012
151
2013
115
2014
113
2015
180
2016
193
2017
233
2018
264
Black nationalist groups espouse black separatism,[2] which seeks to create separate institutions for black people. In 2019 the SPLC noted: "The black nationalist movement is a reaction to centuries of institutionalized white supremacy in America. Black nationalists believe the answer to white racism is to form separate institutions — or even a separate nation. Most forms of black nationalism are strongly anti-white, antisemitic and anti-LGBT. Some religious versions assert that black people are the biblical 'chosen people' of God."[2]
In October 2020, the SPLC announced that they would no longer use the category of "Black Separatism", in order to foster a more accurate understanding of violent extremism and to avoid creating a false equivalency between Black Separatism and White supremacist extremism.[76]
Many groups previously listed under the black separatist/nationalist category are now listed under "general hate" category.[4] The following black separatist/nationalist groups were listed in the SPLC's annual reports under either category (years in parentheses are the year(s) in which the group was included):
Ambassadors of Christ (2017, 2018, 2021, 2022)[60][2][4][5]
Ancient Egyptian Distribution Company (2017, 2018)[60][2]
Army of Israel (2017, 2018, 2021, 2022)[60][2][4][5]
United Kingdom of Israel Congregation (2017, 2018)[60][2]
United Nuwaupians Worldwide, The/All Eyes on Egipt (formerly listed as "All Eyes on Egypt Bookstore or All Eyes on Egipt Bookstore" and "United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors/All Eyes on Egipt") (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021)[59][13][26][60][2][4]
War On The Horizon/Straight Black Pride Movement (formerly listed as simply "War On The Horizon") (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022)[59][13][60][26][4][5]
As-Sabiqun / Masjid al Islam (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021) - initially listed separately, then together (also listed as "Masjid al Islam – As Sabiqun")[54][13][26][77][2][4]
^ abN'dea Yancey-Bragg, Hate groups declined in 2021, but fringe ideology is a 'powerful force' shaping US politics, SPLC warns, USA Today (March 9, 2022).
^Rory McVeigh. "Structured Ignorance and Organized Racism in the United States", Social Forces, Vol. 82, No. 3, (March 2004), p. 913
^Chalmers, Mark David (2003). Backfire: how the Ku Klux Klan Helped the civil rights movement, Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 074252311X p. 188
^Brett A. Barnett (2007). 'Untangling the web of hate: are online "hate sites" deserving of First Amendment Protection?'. Cambria Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-1934043912.
^Montgomery, David (November 8, 2018). "The State of Hate". The Washington Post Magazine. Retrieved December 28, 2018.
^Williams, Casey (April 27, 2016). "How Anonymous Is Fighting White Supremacy Online". HuffPost. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
^ abcd"The Year in Hate: Trump Buoyed White Supremacists in 2017, Sparking Backlash Among Black Nationalist Groups". Southern Poverty Law Center. February 20, 2018. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
^Frumin, Ben (November 20, 2010). "Family Research Council Rips SPLC Over 'Slanderous' Hate Group Designation". Talking Points Memo. Retrieved May 3, 2017.
^Sherman, Amy (March 22, 2017). "Is the Center for Immigration Studies a hate group, as the Southern Poverty Law Center says?". Politifact. St. Petersburg, Fla.: Poynter Institute. Retrieved May 3, 2017.
^Bixby, Scott (January 16, 2019). "Anti-Immigration Group Uses Mafia Law to Attack SPLC". The Daily Beast. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
^Kunzelman, Michael (September 16, 2019). "Judge tosses lawsuit over law center's hate group labels". Associated Press News. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
^"Memorandum & Opinion, Center for Immigration Studies V. Cohen Et Al, No. 1:19-cv-00087 (D.D.C. Sep 13, 2019)". Retrieved August 1, 2023 – via USA Today.
^Silverstein, Ken (March 22, 2010). "'Hate,' Immigration, and the Southern Poverty Law Center". Harper's Magazine. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
^Jonsson, Patrik (February 23, 2011). "Annual report cites rise in hate groups, but some ask: What is hate?". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
O'Donnell, Patrick (Editor), 2006. Ku Klux Klan America's First Terrorists Exposed, p. 210; ISBN 1419649787.
Chalmers, David Mark, 2003. Backfire: How the Ku Klux Klan Helped the Civil Rights Movement, p. 163. ISBN 978-0742523111.
Berlet, Chip; Lyons, Matthew Nemiroff (2000). Right-wing populism in America: too close for comfort. Guilford Press. p. 60; ISBN 978-1572305625.
Rory McVeigh, The rise of the Ku Klux Klan: right-wing movements and national politics organizations. University of Minnesota Press. 2009. ISBN 978-0816656196
Charles Quarles, The Ku Klux Klan and related American racialist and antisemitic organizations: a history and analysis, McFarland, 1999. ISBN 978-0786438877
Levin, Brian "Cyberhate: A Legal and Historical Analysis of Extremists' Use of Computer Networks in America" in Perry, Barbara (editor). Hate and Bias Crime: A Reader. p. 112 ISBN 978-0415944083
^Lee McGowan (2002). The Radical Right in Germany: 1870 to the Present. Pearson Education. pp. 9, 178. ISBN 0582291933. OCLC 49785551.
^Lee, Martin A. 1997. The Beast Reawakens. Boston: Little, Brown and Co, pp. 85–118, 214–34, 277–81, 287–330, 333–78. On Volk concept", and a discussion of ethnonationalist integralism, see pp. 215–18
^Ondřej Cakl & Klára Kalibová (2002). "Neo-Nazism". Faculty of Humanities at Charles University in Prague, Department of Civil Society Studies. Archived from the original on December 26, 2018. Retrieved December 8, 2007. Neo-Nazism: An ideology that draws upon the legacy of the Nazi Third Reich, the main pillars of which are an admiration for Adolf Hitler, aggressive nationalism ("nothing but the nation"), and hatred of Jews, foreigners, ethnic minorities, homosexuals and everyone who is different in some way.
^Werner Bergmann; Rainer Erb (1997). Anti-Semitism in Germany: The Post-Nazi Epoch Since 1945. Transaction Publishers. p. 91. ISBN 1560002700. OCLC 35318351. In contrast to today, in which rigid authoritarianism and neo-Nazism are characteristic of marginal groups, open or latent leanings toward Nazi ideology in the 1940s and 1950s
^"White Power Music". Anti-Defamation League. 2005. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved October 7, 2007.
^"Immigration Fueling White Supremacists". CBS News. February 6, 2007.
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuv"Active Racist Skinhead Groups". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
^ abcAntigoverment Movement, Southern Poverty Law Center.
^ abcdefghijklCarless, Will (June 6, 2023). "'Parents' rights' groups labeled extremist: SPLC lists a key Florida group as anti-government". USA Today.
^ abcdefghi2017 neo-Confederate hate groups, Southern Poverty Law Center.
^ abcdefgh"Active Neo-Confederate Groups". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrst2017 Christian identity hate groups, Southern Poverty Law Center.
Eck, Diane (2001). A New Religious America: How a "Christian Country" has become the world's most religiously diverse nation. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. p. 347.
Buck, Christopher (2009). Religious Myths and Visions of America: How Minority Faiths Redefined America's World Role. Praeger. pp. 107–08, 213. ISBN 978-0313359590.
"Christian Identity". Anti-Defamation League. Archived from the original on January 19, 2012. Retrieved January 24, 2012.
^"Self-proclaimed Nazi who says he flew a swastika flag at a Bernie Sanders rally still has a YouTube account". Media Matters for America. March 6, 2020. Retrieved March 11, 2020. This would not be the first time Sterkeson — who also goes by his handle "Bomb Islam" — has spewed bigotry at a public event. In 2017, a fellow vlogger filmed Sterkeson yelling anti-Islam sentiments at a Council on American-Islamic Relations event featuring Women's March co-founder Linda Sarsour in Mesa, Arizona. In the video, Sterkeson approached people with professional cameras and began shouting about his belief that "every single one of them has to go." Later in the video, a man in a Pepe the frog mask goes inside the lobby of the event hosted at a hotel and tears up a Quran while the person holding the camera calls the Muslims assembled there "bearded monkeys," saying they have "no place in America."
^Intelligence Report: a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, Issues 133–136; Southern Poverty Law Center, Klanwatch Project, Southern Poverty Law Center. Militia Task Force, Publisher Klanwatch, 2009.
^Messner, Beth A., Art Jipson, Paul J. Becker and Bryan Byers. 2007. "The Hardest Hate: A Sociological Analysis of Country Hate Music: From Rebel Records to Prussian Blue: A History of White Racialist Music in the United States". Popular Music and Society. 30(4):513–31.
^Pulera, Dominic J.,Sharing the Dream: White Males in a Multicultural America, pp. 309–11.
^ abcdefghijklmno2017 hate music groups, Southern Poverty Law Center.
^ abcdefghi"Active Racist Music Groups". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
^Schmid, Thacher (February 21, 2017). "A Northeast Portland Record Label Lands on a National Hate-Group Registry: The Alberta Street company's top-selling product is the music of an alleged neo-Nazi band from England". Willamette Week. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
^ abRadical Traditional Catholicism, Intelligence Files, Southern Poverty Law Center, 2011.
^ abHeidi Beirich, Radical Powerhouse, Intelligence Report, Southern Poverty Law Center (2015).
^ abcdefghijklmn"Active Radical Traditional Catholicism Groups". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
^ abcdefghij2017 radical traditional Catholicism hate groups, Southern Poverty Law Center.
^Hodges, Raven (October 8, 2020). "Equity Through Accuracy: Changes to Our Hate Map". Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived from the original on October 16, 2020.