US Civil Rights Head Clarke Urged to Go Bold With Time Now Vital

There weren’t many TV cameras for Kristen Clarke’s visits in June to majority-Black public and majority-White charter schools in the small Mississippi Delta town of Indianola.

The same went for the Justice Department Civil Rights Division chief’s other stops in the state, including a courthouse in one of the nation’s poorest counties where she talked with community leaders about prison conditions and hate crimes.

Her “listening tour” this year to historically neglected southern cities is an abrupt change from the confrontational style Clarke embraced while leading a civil rights organization during the Trump era. That’s when Clarke sparred with Tucker ...