Kim Kardashian Says Being a Mom Made Her Passionate About Prison Reform: ‘You Become So Protective’
It changed her. Kim Kardashian West sat down with Jenna Bush Hager to talk about the Rodney Reed case because she was with him when he learned his execution had been put on hold indefinitely. Jenna, 37, asked Kim, 39, if becoming a mom impacted her “passion” for criminal justice work during their November 18 Today show interview, and Kim confirmed, “When you become a mom, you become so protective. You want to hopefully make their world the most perfect place ever and ours obviously isn’t.”
The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star continued, “I definitely see how especially black men are treated in this country, still differently, and I’m raising two black men, and so I want to make sure that my world and their world is as safe and as fair as possible.”
“Was there a moment, was there a catalyst, when you knew you wanted to get into criminal justice reform?” the Today show host asked. Kim replied, “Yea. Alice.” She was referring to Alice Marie Johnson, a woman who Kim advocated to receive clemency after she was convicted in 1996 of conspiracy to possess cocaine, and attempted possession of cocaine. Alice, 64, had served 21 years of her life sentence for a first-time nonviolent drug offense, and Kim fought for her to be free.
“It’s just been such a journey that I didn’t imagine I’d ever be on,” Kim said. “But I’m so glad that I am. And I just love that we’ve been able to just get a lot of work done. And I just don’t wanna stop that.”
She’s certainly not stopping now. Kim told Jenna that Rodney — who was was found guilty in a 1996 rape and murder case and was going to be executed despite new evidence casting doubt on his conviction — gave an “overwhelming sigh of relief and hope” and said, “Praise Jesus” when he received news of the stay. She and several others had worked hard trying to halt Reed’s execution.
Kim is working toward becoming a lawyer, revealing that she’s hoping to take the bar in 2022, so taking on these high-profile advocacy causes is clearly not just a quick passion project for her. “It’s kind of crazy because I’m learning it all as I go,” she said during an episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. “I spend more time on this than I do anything else. It’s insane but it’s so fun to be around people that are super smart and get it and want the same thing.”
Keeping working on it, Kim. We bet your kids will be super proud of their mom.
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