News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Jan. 8, 2021: US President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday named Caribbean American attorney, Kristen Clarke, to serve in a top post at the Department of Justice, a day after pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol.
Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, was nominated to serve as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the Department of Justice. A veteran of the Department of Justice, started her career in civil rights as a career attorney in the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice where she handled cases of police misconduct, hate crimes, human trafficking, voting rights, and redistricting cases.
In a statement, the Biden-Harris transition team stated that “she has been a champion of systemic equity and equal justice throughout her career.”
The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, created in 1957 by the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, works to uphold the civil and constitutional rights of all Americans, particularly some of the most vulnerable members of our society. The Division enforces federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, disability, religion, familial status and national origin.
Clarke is currently the president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and previously worked as the head of the Civil Rights Bureau for the New York State Attorney General’s Office.
Like VP-elect Kamala Harris, Clarke’s roots also run to Jamaica. Her parents immigrated to Brooklyn from Jamaica and she was born in 1975 in the US. She attended Choate Rosemary Hall, where she was the only girl to join the boy’s wrestling squad. Clarke earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University, where she was involved with initiatives to support and champion African American students, and graduated in 1997. And she earned a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School in 2000.
“This job is about justice. It’s about equality. And under our DOJ, we’ll move closer to the TRUE meaning of equal justice under law. Honored to be nominated by @JoeBiden…” she tweeted last night.
“With @KristenClarkeJD leading DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, America will have a champion who has proven her mettle. From fighting voter suppression to defending equal justice under the law, she will be a phenomenal advocate for progress,” the woman credited with turning Georgia blue, Stacey Abrams, tweeted.
