--- title: White Lives Matter to Be Deemed a Hate Group by SPLC description: The Southern Poverty Law Center contends the group is white-supremacist canonical: https://time.com/4473380/white-lives-matter-hate-group-southern-poverty-law-center/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-30T22:09:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T00:18:08.036Z article:section: U.S. og:title: White Lives Matter to Be Deemed a Hate Group by Southern Poverty Law Center og:description: The Southern Poverty Law Center contends the group is white-supremacist og:url: https://time.com/4473380/white-lives-matter-hate-group-southern-poverty-law-center/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt26f7fa83a0bbf945/6988a445a988ca2e7a6b9403/white-lives-matter.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Holds Rally In Bethpage, New York og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White Lives Matter to Be Deemed a Hate Group by Southern Poverty Law Center twitter:description: The Southern Poverty Law Center contends the group is white-supremacist twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt26f7fa83a0bbf945/6988a445a988ca2e7a6b9403/white-lives-matter.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # White Lives Matter to Be Deemed a Hate Group by the Southern Poverty Law Center by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Aug 30, 2016 10:09 PM CUT  A Trump supporter holds up a "White Lives Matter" sign during a rally for Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump on April 6, 2016 in Bethpage, New York. The rally comes ahead of the April 15 New York primary. A Trump supporter holds up a "White Lives Matter" sign during a rally for Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump on April 6, 2016 in Bethpage, New York. The rally comes ahead of the April 15 New York primary.Andrew Renneisen—Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Aug 30, 2016 10:09 PM CUT The Southern Poverty Law Center will designate [White Lives Matter](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/white-lives-matter-be-declared-hate-group-southern-poverty-law-n640136 "undefined") a hate group, it announced on Tuesday. The watchdog organization says [White Lives Matter](http://time.com/4461000/white-lives-matter-protest-naacp-texas/ "undefined") is essentially a white-supremacist group and will join the group of 892 other hate groups in the country in February, [NBC News reports](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/white-lives-matter-be-declared-hate-group-southern-poverty-law-n640136 "undefined"). “The White Lives Matter website says their movement is dedicated to the preservation of the white race. That tells you all you need to know,” Heidi Beirich, the director of the Intelligence Project at the SPLC, said [according to the New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/31/us/white-lives-matter-has-been-declared-a-hate-group.html "undefined"). [Black Lives Matter](http://time.com/4472518/students-protest-black-lives-matter-shirt/ "undefined") is not, on the other hand, a hate group, according to the SPLC, who explains that that there is “nothing at all to suggest that the bulk of the demonstrators hold supremacist or black separatist views.” White Lives Matter denies it is a hate group, saying in a [statement](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/white-lives-matter-be-declared-hate-group-southern-poverty-law-n640136 "undefined") to NBC News that it “is really about recognizing the contributions that people of European descent have made to civilization, and that we as a people and culture are worth preserving. We reject the notion that it is morally wrong for people of European descent to love and support their own race … We value Western civilization and believe that at the very least, immigrants should not make us dumber or poorer.” \[[_NBC News_](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/white-lives-matter-be-declared-hate-group-southern-poverty-law-n640136 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4473380/white-lives-matter-hate-group-southern-poverty-law-center/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4473380/white-lives-matter-hate-group-southern-poverty-law-center/"},"headline":"White Lives Matter to Be Deemed a Hate Group by the Southern Poverty Law Center","datePublished":"2016-08-30T22:09:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T00:18:08.036Z","description":"The Southern Poverty Law Center contends the group is white supremacist","url":"https://time.com/4473380/white-lives-matter-hate-group-southern-poverty-law-center/","keywords":["Racism"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt26f7fa83a0bbf945/6988a445a988ca2e7a6b9403/white-lives-matter.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt26f7fa83a0bbf945/6988a445a988ca2e7a6b9403/white-lives-matter.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Holds Rally In Bethpage, New York","caption":"Donald Trump Holds Rally In Bethpage, New York","creditText":"Andrew Renneisen—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/racism/","name":"Racism"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4473380/white-lives-matter-hate-group-southern-poverty-law-center/","name":"White Lives Matter to Be Deemed a Hate Group by the Southern Poverty Law Center"}}]}] ```