Editor’s note:
Civil rights attorney
“I think that 2021, it is a year of hope,” Clarke told
theGrio in an exclusive interview.
Clarke, a longtime champion of civil rights, is President Joe Biden‘s pick to serve as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice and, if confirmed, would be the first Black woman in history to serve in the role.
Lani Guinier was the first Black woman to be nominated to the post by former President Bill Clinton in 1993. However, Clinton withdrew the nomination following a campaign against Guinier fueled by conservatives who painted her as radical.