Kim Kardashian features alongside Cher and Naomi Campbell in CR Fashion Book's new "POWER" issue in promotion of her upcoming documentary, Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project, airing on Oxygen.
In the new issue, which hits stands on March 12, Kardashian explains how being a mom inspired her prison reform work (which, of course, is what the Oxygen doc is about). “My evolution on this is probably some combination of growing up, getting married, having kids, and my life being so different than what it was when I was starting out. Now, I feel like I have a duty to myself and to my children more than the public and I want to be a good role model for my kids.”
She continued, “I’m raising four black kids in this society and our system is so discriminatory against black and brown people. I want to do as much as I can to make their lives easier…I never knew much about the system until I started to dig in, and once I learned and saw how many things were wrong, I really couldn’t stop.”
Kardashian also explains why she lobbied Donald Trump for Alice Marie Johnson's freedom back in 2018. “Meeting [her] changed my whole world. Hearing for the first time that a nonviolent offender— with a low-level offense—received the same sentence as Charles Manson did not compute to me. I actually could not fathom it. I thought, 'Did she not have good enough attorneys? Did she not have the funds? What is [the issue] and how can I help?” And once I started to learn more about the system, I realized there are so many thousands of people in her situation.'”
So, Kardashian explained, she reached out to Ivanka Trump and then the president. "Everyone told me I would ruin my career if I went to the White House, but that doesn’t mean anything to me. My reputation over someone’s life? That didn’t make any sense. People talk shit all day long: I felt confident that I could handle a news story that would cycle for a day or a week, tops. But the chance to change someone’s life? Backing out was not an option for me.”
Understanding a person's backstory is crucial to understanding the crime, Kardashian explains. “I met so many people who were 14 or 15 when they committed a crime because they didn’t have any other choices, and now that they’re in their 40s, they are completely different. These backstories are so important, and people don’t want to take the time to pay attention or fix the problem. When I started to meet these amazing people and start my journey in law school, it felt like I couldn’t stop, I couldn’t sit there and not help people get a second chance. I am completely consumed by it.”
Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project will land on Oxygen on April 5. In the meantime, take a look at CR Fashion Book's stunning POWER editorial in the gallery above.
