SPLC works through the legal field to advocate for justice Photo taken from the Southern Poverty Law Center's official website Among several organizations committed to combating hate crimes, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) , founded in 1971, is a racial justice organization dedicated to using litigation to battle hate crimes. “We were involved in [cases of] the Ku Klux Klan [and other] groups that were racist organizations,” said Michael Lieberman, Senior Policy Counse