Kim Kardashian Returns to the White House To Discuss Criminal Justice Reform
Kim Kardashian joined Vice President Kamala Harris for a roundtable discussion at the White House on Thursday, April 25. The agenda was to discuss criminal justice reform.
The visit comes nearly 5 years since she first went to the White House to meet with former US President Donald Trump.
Aside from Harris, the reality TV star joined Senior Advisor and Director of the Office of Public Engagement Stephen Benjamin and four people who recently received pardons from POTUS: Beverly Holcy, Jason Hernandez, Bobby Darrell Lowery, and Jesse Mosley.
The meeting in the Roosevelt Room stems from President Joe Biden’s “second chance” policies that strive to address the raging racial disparities in the justice system.
Just a day before, he pardoned 11 people and commuted the sentences of five others, most of whom had non-violent cocaine or crack convictions over decades. As he did so, the president explained, “Many of these individuals received disproportionately longer sentences than they would have under current law, policy, and practice.” He added that they deserved “the chance at building a brighter future for themselves beyond prison walls.”
Harris opened the meeting by expressing gratitude for the entrepreneurs’ activism.
“I want to thank Kim for your advocacy and for using your platform in a way that has really lifted up the importance of talking about and being dedicated to second chances,” the 59-year-old vice-president said in the YouTube video shared by the White House.
During the meeting, they discussed Kardarshian’s previous work with the Trump administration, where she served as the central figure in lobbying for the First Step Act.
In 2018, the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star made headlines when she successfully lobbied for Trump to pardon Alice Marie Johnson. The 63-year-old black great-grandmother from Alabama was serving a life sentence without parole for a nonviolent drug offense that comprised a Memphis-based cocaine trafficking operation.
“I am super honored to be here to hear your stories today and I think it’s so important to share them and amplify them because there are so many people that are in your position that could use the inspiration,” she said as she addressed the pardoned panelists.
The businesswoman responded by sharing her intention to continue the fight “every day, every visit, every administration.” “I’m just here to help and to spread the word,” Kardashian added.
Harris highlighted her efforts in supporting prisoner reentry initiatives, mainly federal convictions for simple marijuana possession. “Many of you have heard me say, ‘I just don’t think people should have to go to jail for smoking weed.’ And these pardons have been issued as an extension of that approach.”
The VP also confirmed the finalization of the SBA “Ban the Box” initiative, which aims to lift most restrictions on loan programs based on a person’s criminal record.
“We have convened today to talk about the power of individuals—when supported by community, by society—the power they have to do extraordinary things that benefit all kinds of people,” Harris declared. “Reducing that restriction is going to mean a lot in terms of second chances and the opportunity for people to excel.”
The reality TV queen shared, “It was actually this very room that I was in years ago, my first clemency meeting, that really inspired me to take a journey of really helping to figure out how I can be helpful and how I can tell the amazing stories that I would hear from the success stories of individuals like yourself,”
“I didn’t know a whole lot,” she added, possibly alluding to the fact that it took her four tries to pass California’s baby bar examination. At the time, she claimed, “[it] wasn’t easy or handed to me.”
