Rocky Nimmons/Courier
Pickens County sheriff Rick Clark greets community members during an event in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday in Pickens.

By Ben Robinson
Staff Reporter

brobinson@thepccourier.com

PICKENS — Pickens County sheriff Rick Clark said he was glad to be a part of Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day program on the steps of the Pickens County Courthouse following the Rev. C.L. Cruell’s recitation of Dr. King’s famous “I Have A Dream” speech.

“Because after that, you really don’t have to say much else,” Clark said. “You kind of go back to Aug. 28, 1963,” the date Dr. King originally made the speech.

Clark admitted his generation had missed much of the racial tension in America. Born in 1967, he attended elementary school in the 1970s and high school in the 1980s.

Referring to comments made by Pickens City Councilman Fletcher Perry about segregation in Pickens, Clark said “the best thing is I don’t know what he’s talking about.”

“It’s a foreign concept to me, and I couldn’t imagine,” Clark said. “Thank goodness we’re here today and none of that is going on.”

Clark said the injustices of the past are, however, still relevant today.

“That gives us a reminder of how much further we need to go,” Clark said. “Our past is something we need to remember no matter what happens. It gives us the strength to build. I think we are doing that.”

Clark said his office continues to recruit minorities.

“I think we need to have African-Americans on the inside so they know what we are doing,” Clark said, “and the mission of what we are doing is to try to save our communities. That’s where we need to grow.”

Clark said he plans to create a criminal justice committee made up of people with various backgrounds.

“Of course, getting the community where we are keeping people out of jail, as a county taxpayer I’m for that,” Clark said. “We can direct them into community programs where we can save them, not throw them into jail.”

Clark said he would also like to have people to mentor first-time offenders.

“That’s going to take community involvement,” he said. “And that means we’re going to be asking a lot of you to get on board to do what we’re doing,” Clark said. “Racism, racial relations in our community is all of our problem, no matter what color, size, sex or anything you are.”