Wrong. He wasn't a racist 30 years ago, either. It was libel then, it's libel now. The whole business is bogus; fake news at its worst.
Last month our Phoenix talk radio station talked about the original case. Apparently, Sessions went after vote fraud perpetrated by people supported by the left. The fraud was done on behalf of black candidates. What makes the narrative problematic for the left is that the candidates who were cheated were also black.
The original fight came down to whose ox was being gored, not a racial issue. However, at the time, the leftists played the race card, just like they do today.