Attorney of Jamaican roots appointed top lawyer for NAACP

Jamaican-American Kristen Clarke has been appointed general counsel of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP), placing her at the helm of the organisation’s legal operations.

Clarke joins the NAACP following her tenure in the Biden administration’s Department of Justice, where she served as head of the Civil Rights Division, leading the department’s legal advocacy efforts.

In her new role, Clarke will oversee the organisation’s legal strategy, including litigation on voting rights, gerrymandering and First Amendment issues.

She is no stranger to the NAACP, having previously spent several years at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), where she helped lead work in voting rights and election law across the United States. During that time, she worked on cases defending the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act and testified before Congress and state legislatures.

In a statement, Clarke said the NAACP has stood on the front lines of justice for more than a century.

“I am deeply honoured to join this historic organisation at this critical moment in our democracy. Our communities are under relentless attack from the ballot box to their wallets, and this moment demands that we use the full weight of the law to promote justice and accountability,” she said.

SUITED FOR ROLE

NAACP President Derrick Johnson praised Clarke’s appointment, describing her as uniquely suited for the role.

“As we face unprecedented attacks on voting and civil rights, having Kristen Clarke at the helm of our legal operations brings strategic vision, disciplined leadership and innovative advocacy,” he said.

The NAACP stated that her appointment reflects a broader strategy to deploy increased legal resources in response to ongoing challenges to voting rights protections, particularly those rooted in the civil rights movement.

Clarke brings an outstanding record in civil rights enforcement. During her time at the Department of Justice, she became the first black woman to lead the Civil Rights Division, spearheading investigations into police practices and prosecuting high-profile hate crimes, including the 2022 mass shooting in Buffalo.

Born in Brooklyn to Jamaican parents, Clarke holds degrees from Harvard University and Columbia Law School.

She has said she “grew up in a household that was about discipline, working hard in school and making the most of every opportunity”.

In 2019, Clarke represented Taylor Dumpson, the first Jamaican-American woman elected student body president at American University, in a lawsuit against white supremacists. The day after Dumpson’s inauguration, neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin coordinated a series of hate acts on campus, including hanging nooses with bananas tied to them. He also directed his followers to harass her on social media in a so-called “troll storm”.

Clarke successfully secured damages and a restraining order, and helped establish that coordinated online harassment can interfere with access to public accommodation.

A member of Prep for Prep, a non-profit organisation that supports students of colour in accessing private school education, Clarke attended Choate Rosemary Hall, where she was the only girl on the boys’ wrestling team.

She earned her bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in 1997 before completing a Juris Doctor at Columbia University in 2000. Clarke began her career as a trial attorney in the US Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, where she worked on voting rights, hate crimes and human trafficking cases.

Lester Hinds