• Celebrity
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Black Beauty Awards 2022
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Sponsors Recognition Page 2022
    • Latest News
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2022 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • Wellness House
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United
Skip to content
SUBSCRIBE
  • MAGAZINE
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Celebrity
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
      • Paint The Polls Black
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Black Beauty Awards 2022
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Sponsors Recognition Page 2022
    • Latest News
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2022 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • Wellness House
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United
Home · News

Op-Ed: Kim Kardashian Did A Great Thing, But Was It For The Greater Good?

Op-Ed: Kim Kardashian Did A Great Thing, But Was It For The Greater Good?
By Michael Arceneaux · Updated October 23, 2020

In hindsight, I should have never doubted Kim Kardashian West’s ability to get the result she wanted. I didn’t question whether or not she had the right as a celebrity to step into the arena of activism with respect to justice reform, but merely whether or not she could garner any substantial assistance on such endeavors from that tyrant currently occupying the White House. It was my belief that Kardashian, no matter how well-intentioned, would ultimately do nothing but give President Trump a photo op. Nothing more, nothing less.

She told me.

Following her success in getting Donald J. Trump to commute the sentence of Alice Marie Johnson, Kardashian West quickly shot down any claims that she was a political pawn. Speaking with CNN’s Van Jones, Kardashian noted, “I think Kanye [West]’s already given him legitimacy in that way.” Kardashian West went on to add, “I was working on this before. I don’t think I would be used. At the end of the day, he heard me out. We got the job done. What could he really use me for?” 

The answer lies in Kardashian West’s subsequent interview with Johnson on Today. Speaking with Hoda Kotb, Kardashian West claims she “saw compassion” during her meeting with Trump. “I saw a different side,” she said on Wednesday. “And I think that this is just the beginning of something greater. … The reality is people change their mind.”

Well, a co-sign of Trump’s purported compassion from an A-list celebrity is pretty much the kind of thing he’d want. And the reality TV star gave him just that. Even if for a good cause, it’s what she delivered to him. 

Kardashian West was indeed able to secure Alice Marie Johnson’s freedom, but when it comes to the issue of criminal justice reform, Trump is still the same man who as recently as March promised to “seek the death penalty against drug traffickers, where appropriate under current law.” The man who still believes the long proven innocent Central Park Five are guilty. The man that has provided such a boon to the private prison industry that they have moved their annual conference to one of his golf courses.

Is this someone you’d consider to be “compassionate?”

Sure, I was wrong about Kardashian West managing to get Alice Marie Johnson out of prison, but not about how awful the Trump administration is with respect to locking up Black and Brown people or how there is little reason to believe much reform will get down with an administration in bed with the private prison industry. Even so, I do not intend to piss on Kardashian West’s parade. It’s more so a matter of proper contextualizing.

See @HodaKotb's full interview with Alice Marie Johnson and @KimKardashian pic.twitter.com/U1RcKnzIAE

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 14, 2018

You can’t help but be happy for Alice Marie Johnson and proud of Kim Kardashian West. This was a very good thing. It is a glowing example of the benefits of someone with a huge platform exploiting in service of those in need. To wit, Kardashian West revealed that she has assembled a large legal team and is pursuing clemency for several other nonviolent offenders. “This is like, ‘OK, we did this,'” Kardashian West explained. “Let’s open up this conversation.” Johnson will be joining Kardashian West for the campaign. 

While I salute this woman for continuing her work, it makes me weary about the pardon and clemency process under this administration.

President Trump again lashes out at athletes who kneel during the national anthem, but says he will ask them to recommend people to be pardoned https://t.co/kZDd9DfmiX https://t.co/wufzwczcrv

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) June 8, 2018

Following his choice to commute Johnson’s sentence, Trump expressed his plans to ask kneeling professional athletes to recommend “friends of theirs or people that they know about” who they think should be pardoned. You know, because every Black person has a friend that is serving federal time or whatever.

“I am going to ask all of those people to recommend to me — because that’s what they’re protesting — people that they think were unfairly treated by the justice system,” Trump babbled at reporters. Trump also teased a pardon for Muhammad Ali. Though, one major fact was lost on him: Ali doesn’t need a pardon. 

Under the Trump administration, the United States ping-pongs back and forth between a kakistocracy and kleptocracy; celebrity-led criminal justice reform is an indicator of the latter’s budding rise. Thus far, Trump has only pardoned folk heroes of the right fringe — Joe Arpaio, Scooter Libby, Dinesh D’souza — or people advocated for by celebrities. Sylvester Stallone was the first example of this, but Trump has even gone as far as to tease pardons for stars like Martha Stewart.

So, when I read pieces like “Liberals ought to learn from Kim Kardashian,” which cite me among the “liberals” who need to take cues from Kardashian West, I am jousting between irritation and laughter. What exactly am I supposed to be learning from this? Trump is a narcissistic bigoted simpleton who deals with every single person transactionally. For him, the underlying question is always, “What can you do for me?” 

It is a repulsive trait, but one that can be exploited for good cause by the right person. Kardashian West was shrewd enough to use her celebrity to convince a man with an insatiable need for it to do a good thing. Kudos to her for that, though one can’t help but also consider this means those who have long been trying to rally for criminal justice reform will never have similar opportunities because they are not famous. Kardashian West is exploiting a broken system, but it remains very much broken. 

That makes me happy for every person she’ll be able to help, but terrified for those without famous new friends.

COMPANY INFORMATION
  • Our Company
  • Customer Service
  • Essence Ventures
  • Change Your Address
  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Internships
  • Media Kit
  • tag
SUBSCRIBE
  • Newsletters
  • Give a Gift of ESSENCE
  • Magazine Tablet Edition
FOLLOW US
MORE ON ESSENCE
  • Home
  • Love
  • Celebrity
  • Beauty
  • Hair
  • Fashion
  • ESSENCE festival

ESSENCE.com is part of ESSENCE Communications, Inc.

Essence may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.

©2023 ESSENCE Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Essence.com Advertising Terms

Get The ESSENCE Newsletter and
Special Offers delivered to your inbox

By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Get The ESSENCE Magazine
by subscribing below
subscribe now