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SIULAW alum, Ryan Jones ‘12, discusses why he is running for DC Attorney General in this article in The Washington Informer.
June 24, 2021 ,
Attorney Ryan Jones grew up in the 14th Street Heights neighborhood of Washington, D.C., and has watched gentrification push people of color into Maryland, Virginia and other places.
He also has lent his voice to the decades-long battle for D.C. statehood. During the protests in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd and other African Americans, Jones joined the demonstrations to help proclaim that Black Lives Matter.
The 36-year-old, who graduated from Southern Illinois University School of Law and earned a master of laws at George Washington University Law, now hopes to become the District’s next attorney general.
Incumbent Karl Racine, the city’s first elected attorney general, has announced his decision to seek another four-year term.
“Living through 2020, we watched atrocities happening to certain people and we were losing tons of lives and still saw that Black lives weren’t valued,” Jones asserted. “I protested and marched. However, to make a real difference, I decided to run.”
Jones said his campaign should not be viewed as a referendum on what Racine has or has not done. Entering the race remains more about making a difference, he insists.
“I could not sit back and not do nothing,” said Jones, whose father worked at the D.C. Office of the People’s Counsel advocating for residents against utility companies.
With family members, including his mother, working as real estate agents, Jones counts as a staunch advocate of homeownership for people of color.
Read the complete story here.