Kristen Clarke of the NAACP LDF has no idea what she is talking about. In a CBS interview she states:

“Kristen Clarke, Co-Director of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund Political Participation Group, said in an interview with Hotsheet that ‘there doesn’t seem to be a color blind approach to many of these so called ballot integrity efforts and poll watching initiatives that are underway.  The reports that we are hearing about are very troubling,’ she said, suggesting that poll watchers are being ‘largely assigned to monitor African American and Latino voters.'”

This is false.  And she should know better.  Sadly, it’s not unexpected from her.

First of all, this is the sort of preposterous and ill informed statement that flirts with defamation, and perhaps it is time that some folks in Houston return the favor. Clarke’s argument that minority areas are being targeted, particularly in Houston, is a bald faced lie. It is defamatory, and if she is speaking for her organizations, both she and the LDF should be held to account.

Second, this is the same Kristen Clarke that testified under oath multiple times that she did not know who “C.C.” was at the voting section in a deposition with the Civil Rights Commission investigating the New Black Panther dismissal. She denied knowing who C.C. was despite working along side “Christopher Coates” on Section 2 cases in places like Kentucky and other parts of the country. She knew full well who C.C. was and her claims to the contrary are not to be believed.

Third, this is the same Kristen Clarke that seemed keenly interested in having a voter intimidation case against the New Black Panthers dismissed. While working for the NAACP LDF, she asked voting section lawyers if the case had yet been dismissed. Clarke is famously obsessed with disparaging race neutral enforcement of the civil rights laws. She never wants the voting rights act to protect white voters. She stated this position to numerous people on numerous occasions. One example was meeting with leadership of the Civil Rights Division in 2008, when she made her views perfectly clear.

Reporters should ask Kristen Clarke in future interviews if she supports race neutral enforcement of the civil rights laws. They should ask her if she opposed the New Black Panther case. They should ask her if she supported the case against Noxubee MS political boss Ike Brown, who was found liable for violating the voting rights of whites. Clarke is a notorious opponent of equal enforcement of the law. She has no warrant to falsely criticize groups who are monitoring the election. The only person in this debate who views the law with a racially suspect lens is Clarke.