Southern Poverty Law Center Critique The Southern Poverty Law Center, otherwise known as SPLC, is a civil rights organization here in the United States that helps slay racism, hate groups, discrimination and injustice meant to harm and dehumanize people. (www.SPLCenter.org) Founded in 1971 by civil rights activist and attorney Morris Dees, SPLC has continued to flourish in its promise to ensure equality and justice for all. The power force behind this leadership is a great team of board members, program staffers and civil right lawyers who fight for the exploited, abused and forgotten. Together they have formed an unbreakable ring and have triumphed continuously, winning lawsuits in defending workers whose rights had been violated and children who were being exploited. In efforts to raise awareness of social inequality and racism and to help encourage others to stand against it, their website offers direct links to a “Hate Map”, in which hate group organizations are located, as well as a “Hate Incident” report that lets viewers read about recent hate crimes in their area. They have gone as far as bankrupting one of the nation’s most notorious hate groups. This is a civil rights movement happening right now and the homepage of their website emphasizes so, with the current events headings flashing by slowly, depicting high scale photos, suggesting to the headlines of current events taking place this second. The Southern Poverty Law Center website provides an easy to navigate interface designed to help involve, educate and raise awareness of discrimination and injustice to civil rights supporters. Upon entrance to the SPLC homepage portal, one of the first features that caught my attention were the photographs in the top central part of the page. A black man’s pair of hands was hanging out of a prison cell. This may have been just a simple photograph to anyone else, but to me, as a strong civil rights supporter, I made an instant connection.
Cited: SPLC. Southern Poverty Law Center. Web. 25 August 2012.