Garland: Justice Dept.’s civil rights work is key priority

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland says the early work of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division meant confronting white supremacists who were intimidating Black voters, and the division’s work remains urgent 65 years later amid a surge of hate crimes. The division marked its anniversary the same day that a gunman was charged with hate crimes in a mass shooting at a Colorado LGBTQ nightclub and a week after another mass shooter pleaded guilty to targeting Black shoppers at a Buffalo supermarket. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke says the division is using every tool it has to fight a resurgence of hate.