DC Attorney General Karl Racine '81 returns to Saint John’s
On Thursday, February 24th, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine ’81, a Saint John’s alum, came back to SJC to give a presentation to both the seniors and the Black Student Union about his career. Before he gave his presentation, he sat down with The Sabre and answered a few questions about his time at SJC and his career after.
Racine talked about how Saint John’s gave him the confidence he had been lacking before arriving. He specifically referenced a former teacher he had named Mr. Dent. Mr. Dent implored him to have more confidence in his own abilities, and said if he rewrote the essay that had been just turned in, it would be the, “best essay he had ever read.” During his presentation, Racine said that, “Without Mr. Dent giving me the confidence I needed to have, I might not be in the position I am today.”
Another topic Racine discussed during the conversation was his basketball career. Some may know that he was an excellent basketball player here at SJC, even getting the opportunity during his senior year to play in the Capital Classic, who had the likes of Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing participating. Racine also spent time talking about legendary SJC basketball coach Joe Gallagher, or “Joey G” as he would be called by his players. Racine said that the reason he loved Coach Gallagher so much was that he genuinely cared about his players. If someone was struggling, or in need of help, Coach Gallagher was there for them no matter what.
One of the final topics he discussed was about his post-SJC career. In the presentation after the interview, Racine said that his work as the attorney general was so important because it gave him the opportunity to give back to the DC community as someone who’s family had immigrated to DC when he was only three years old. As attorney general he’s been able to sue radical groups like the Proud Boys. More specifically, he sued to hold the Proud Boys responsible for the physical, emotional, and emotional injuries they were responsible for on January 6th, particularly pertaining to the police officers who arrived to stop the groups and were attacked. He also filed an antitrust suit against Amazon, on the basis that they prevented third party sellers on their site from selling their items on their own site for a lower price.
