Readout of Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke’s Trip to South Carolina

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division traveled to Columbia and Charleston, South Carolina on June 23 and June 24 to continue the division’s tour to engage with stakeholders in underserved communities and reaffirm the department’s commitment to protecting the civil rights of all Americans.

On Thursday, Assistant Attorney General Clarke and U.S. Attorney Adair Ford Boroughs for the District of South Carolina visited Turn 90, a non-profit organization in Columbia that is dedicated to assisting individuals who have been recently released from incarceration by providing life skills and job training to participants, including paid work in the organization’s screen-printing shop. They also toured the facility and spoke to program participants, who explained that Turn 90 provided a family-like atmosphere and described the programming as essential for preventing recidivism upon release from custody.

In the afternoon, she met with the staff of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina and thanked the office’s leadership and staff for their service and continued commitment to protecting the civil rights of all Americans.

Assistant Attorney General Clarke and U.S. Attorney Boroughs participated in a community conversation at Bible Way Church of Atlas Road in Columbia with over 40 community leaders and residents from across the state. During the meeting, community members raised concerns about local civil rights issues including education, disability rights, conditions of jails and prisons, and hate crimes and hate incidents.

In the evening, Assistant Attorney General Clarke spoke at the 2023 Emanuel Nine Humanitarian Awards program hosted by Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston to honor the nine individuals who tragically lost their lives on June 17, 2015 to white supremacist violence. During the event, nine honorees from the greater Charleston community were awarded for their work to embody the values of the Emanual Nine. Read her full remarks here.

On Friday, Assistant Attorney General Clarke attended the opening ceremony for the International African American Museum, which is dedicated to telling the story of the significant role that Charleston played in the international slave trade.  According to some estimates, over 80 percent of all Black people in the United States can trace their lineage to slave ships that docked in Charleston. The museum’s exhibits document this history and highlights the contributions that these enslaved people and their ancestors provided to the United States.  Federal, state, and local officials gave remarks during the ceremony, which also featured a number of musical and other artistic performances.

Assistant Attorney General Clarke concluded her visit to South Carolina with a tour by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Gergel of the “Four Corners of Justice,” a historic intersection in Charleston that is the site of several state and federal buildings, including the courtroom where Justice Thurgood Marshall argued Briggs v. Elliot. Briggs was one of the four cases consolidated with Brown v. Board of Education. While the plaintiff lost the Briggs case, the dissent from Judge Julius Waties Waring, after whom the federal courthouse is now named, influenced the Supreme Court’s ultimate holding striking down the “separate but equal” doctrine.