A grandmother serving a life sentence for a first-time drug offense sent a letter on Thursday thanking Kim Kardashian for asking President Trump to set her free – even going as far as comparing the reality queen’s work to that of civil rights icon Rosa Parks.
Kardashian, 37, was so moved by the story of Alice Marie Johnson that she set up a meeting with Trump Wednesday to appeal for clemency.
The mom-of-three also helped raise funds to assemble a legal team for 63-year-old Johnson, who has been locked up for 21 years, with no chance of parole.
“I was so humbled by what you are doing and have already done on my behalf,” wrote Johnson in a letter Kardashian posted on Instagram, along with a red heart emoji.
Johnson had just been told by her attorney Shawn Holley that Kardashian was her secret “benefactor,” she wrote.
“When [Holley] disclosed the name of my benefactor, I had to take time to process and digest the news that you were the one she was alluding to,” Johnson wrote.
“I was drowning and you have thrown me a life jacket.”
Johnson, who was sentenced in 1997 after admitting to acting as an intermediary for drug pushers, said that the work Kardashian was doing would be a defining moment in US history – on par with Rosa Parks’ pivotal role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955.
“There are defining moments in history that have shaped the destiny of this nation. I believe we are part of a defining moment. When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on that bus… that was a defining moment. She was an ordinary woman whose courage ignited and united the heart of America to stand together against a very present evil that could no longer be tolerated,” Johnson wrote.
“I believe that history will record that Kim Kardashian had the courage to take a stand against human warehousing and was a key figure in meaningful criminal justice reform becoming a reality.”
She concluded the letter with “The battle is on!” in all caps.
Trump tweeted that he and Kardashian had a great meeting but did not say whether he would commute Johnson’s sentence.
On Thursday, he granted a full pardon to conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza and said he was thinking of pardoning style maven Martha Stewart and commuting the sentence of disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.