List of organizations designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as hate groups

The following is a list of U.S.-based organizations that are classified as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). 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." 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."
Since 1981, the SPLC's Intelligence Project has published a quarterly "Intelligence Report", which monitors hate groups and extremist organizations in the United States. The SPLC began an annual census of hate groups in 1990. 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.
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. The SPLC also publishes the "HateWatch Weekly" newsletter, which documents racism and extremism, and the "Hatewatch" blog.
Historical trends.
In 1999, the SPLC listed 457 hate groups; that number steadily increased until 2011, when 1,018 groups were listed. The rise from 2008 onward was attributed in part to anger at Barack Obama, the first black president of the United States. 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. 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". 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.
In its 2019 annual report (covering the year 2018), the SPLC listed 1,020 organizations as active hate groups, categorized by type, as follows: Ku Klux Klan (51), neo-Nazi (112), white nationalist (148), racist skinhead (63), Christian Identity (17), neo-Confederate (36), black nationalist (264), anti-immigrant (17), anti-LGBT (49), anti-Muslim (100), and "other hate" (163, consisting of 15 hate music groups, 8 Holocaust denial groups, 2 male supremacy groups, 30 neo-Völkisch groups, 11 radical traditional Catholic groups, and 97 other groups).
Pundits, politicians, and some of the designated groups have objected to the SPLC's list. The Family Research Council disputed its designation in 2010, and the Center for Immigration Studies disputed the SPLC anti-immigrant designation in 2016. In January 2019, Center for Immigration Studies filed a lawsuit against the SPLC over the designation, which was dismissed in September 2019. The SPLC's hate group listings have also been criticized by some political observers and prominent Republicans.
Groups by type.
Ku Klux Klan.
The Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as "the Klan", is the name of three distinct past and present groupings.
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):
Neo-Nazi.
Neo-Nazism consists of post-World War II social or political movements seeking to revive Nazism or related ideologies. Common aspects of modern-day neo-Nazism include hatred or fear of minorities such as blacks, Hispanics, lesbian, gay, and transgender people, non-white immigrants, and sometimes even Christians, but their main hatred is focused on the Jews (their "cardinal enemy").
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):
White nationalist.
The SPLC listed 148 white nationalist groups as active in 2018, noting: "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." 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):
Racist skinheads.
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." An offshoot of the skinhead subculture, racist skinheads promote antisemitism in addition to white supremacy. While racist skinhead groups continue to commit violent acts (against both outsiders and participants in the movement), the number of skinhead groups 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."
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):
Extreme antigovernment movement.
In 2018, the SPLC identified 612 groups that belonged to the extreme antigovernment movement; about a quarter of these were part of the American militia movement. A subset within this movement is the "sovereign citizen" movement. The SPLC states that "Generally, antigovernment groups define themselves as opposed to the 'New World Order, engage in groundless conspiracy theorizing, or advocate or adhere to extreme antigovernment doctrines. 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."
The SPLC has listed a number of antigovernment groups, including Oath Keepers, various 3 Percenters groups (also styled III%ers), the John Birch Society, Renew America, the Moorish Science Temple of America 1928.
Black separatist/nationalist.
Black nationalist groups espouse black separatism, a movement seeking to create separate institutions for black people. The SPLC notes: "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." The following groups have been listed as active black separatist groups in the SPLC's annual reports (years in parentheses refer to the year in which the group is included):
Neo-Confederate.
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."
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):
Christian Identity.
Christian Identity is a label applied to a wide variety of loosely affiliated believers and churches with a white supremacist and antisemitic theology that claims that White people are the true descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel.
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):
Anti-LGBT.
Anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) or anti-gay can refer to activities in certain categories (or combinations of categories): attitudes against or discrimination against LGBT people, violence against LGBT people, LGBT rights opposition and religious opposition to homosexuality.
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):
Anti-immigrant.
The SPLC categories "the most extreme" nativist and vigilante groups as anti-immigrant hate groups, those which espouse xenophobia. The group classifies the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) and NumbersUSA, as the "big three" groups in the anti-immigrant movement.
Holocaust denial.
Holocaust denial groups are those which reject or deny the history of the Holocaust.
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):
Male supremacy.
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."
Neo-Völkisch.
In its 2017 report (issued in 2018), the SPLC added neo-Völkisch Asatru 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."
Hate music.
White power music is music that promotes white nationalism and expresses racism against non-whites. Genres include Nazi punk, Rock Against Communism, hatecore and National Socialist black metal.
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):
Radical traditional Catholicism.
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.
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):
Anti-Muslim.
Anti-Muslim hate groups are described by the SPLC as groups which exhibit extreme hostility against Muslims, by depicting Muslims as "fundamentally alien, ... irrational, intolerant and violent" and accusing Islam of "sanctioning pedophilia, coupled with intolerance for homosexuals and women." Anti-Muslim hate groups espouse conspiratorial views of American Muslims, viewing them "as a fifth column intent on undermining and eventually replacing American democracy and Western civilization with Islamic despotism, a conspiracy theory known as 'civilization jihad.'" 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):
Other.
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):