“I’m a little bit different from everyone else. I see more than what people show outside. I’m a little bit mindful, like what comes out of people’s mouths,” she told CNN.
For Jones, who’s been watching Keeping Up With the Kardashians since it aired on E!, her conversation with the Kardashians reflects who she thinks more people should hear: Will go with you Kim Kardashian of the church, give you a hug or sit in your home and talk.
“When she talks to my parents, she talks to them like they’re her aunts or they’re her parents, like it’s a form of respect,” she said.
Jones said it was “a lot more for her” than what viewers saw on TV.
success came
This week’s episode of “The Kardashians”, the family’s new show on Hulu, tries to capture exactly that and show the world a very different side of Kardashian.
The sixth episode of the family’s Hulu series, “It’s a Life and Death Situation,” focuses on her struggle to pass California’s so-called “baby bars,” one of two exams she must pass to become a practicing attorney. state. Kardashian said on the episode that this was her last chance to do so.
In a car parked outside Red Lobster, Kardashian, her daughter North and KKW Brands exec Tracy Romulus were in a nail-biting scene when she finally learned of her has passed away.
Kardashian breathed a sigh of relief and began to cry.
“Wait, are you sure?” she asked, reading the results again. She let Romulus read. Then she read it again, then spelled it for the camera, “Pass,” she said.
“I’m very happy. Like, I really don’t think I made it,” she said. “I just know how much time and effort I’ve put into this…I’m glad North is here to see that because my kids know I’ve taken time out of them to learn. (Yes) They say) seeing me never give up makes me so happy – I can lead by example.”
Passing the exam is just one part of Kardashian’s future commitment to criminal justice reform.
Cameras also followed her efforts to draw attention to Julius Jones’ case as she awaited test results.
When he planned to be executed, Kardashian was in a race against time to mobilize her powerful friends – actor, athlete and preacher – in a tweet asking Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt for Julius Jones was lenient. They did it.
The episode shows Kardashian mentioning someone she plans to contact, crossing out names from the whiteboard, and the results appear on the screen as the information spreads.
She worked until the final hours before the scheduled execution, and finally got the good news of his clemency. Julius Jones will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Kardashian sighed in relief. She’s also the real deal, swearing the fight isn’t over.
on the ground
But there’s a lot of work that hasn’t been shown on camera.
One thing viewers didn’t see was that in November 2020, Kardashian made a 24-hour trip to Oklahoma to meet with Julius Jones, his family and Gov. Stitt.
“When she told me she met Julius and went to visit him, it touched something inside me,” Antoinette Jones said. “It’s one thing you say ‘Hey, I’m willing to help. I’ll tweet, I’ll talk to the paralegal,’ but (she) goes to visit my brother…that means good discounts.”
Jones, who has been fighting for her brother since his conviction, said Kardashian learned about the case through letters people started sending her and a documentary she watched about him called “The Last Defense.” of. She was moved to help save his life. Ultimately, Antoinette Jones got a call in 2020 from a lawyer who said “we might get King’s help here, and that might be a good thing.”
“The lawyer said, ‘Kim heard about this case. She wants to know what she can do to help.’ That’s when she started tweeting [about Julius]’ said Jones.
Jones said in their interactions with each other, she could see the tycoon’s father, the late lawyer Robert Kardashian, in her drive and determination.
“When she started talking about the details of the Julius case, how should this or that be pointed out early on. I was like, ‘Yeah, she’s going to be a tough lawyer — just like her father,'” Jones said. “You can tell how serious she is. It’s amazing to see her break down certain things, you know, you’re usually looking at her fashion.”
Filmmaker and founder of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC), Scott Budnick, echoed Jones’ praise. He appeared in the latest episode, working with Kardashian to get Jones off death row.
Their collaboration started with a surprise text message in 2018.
“Through a friend of hers, she found me, got my phone number, and I just got a random text that said something like ‘Hey Scott, this is Kim Kardashian West. I Heard a lot about “what are you doing in the anti-recidivism coalition. I want to learn from you. “
Sitting in his room at the Bowery Hotel in New York City, Badnick wondered if the text was true.
“After 30 minutes, we were on the phone, and I said to her, ‘Next week, I’m going to one of the two women’s prisons in California, which is in Corona. You’re welcome.'”
Kardashian called off filming and emptied her schedule to travel with him.
“Literally, a week and a half later, she walked into the California Women’s facility with a security guard and didn’t even know where she was going – walked in and sat with about 15 to 20 women who were serving life sentences. Together and have been in prison for 20, 30, 40 years,”
Budnick said. “No phone, no watch, no time, just deep conversation and deep sharing.”
He said she stayed for an hour and a half listening to stories of women facing life in prison. She then walked around the facility for another hour.
“I’m impressed that she canceled her entire schedule to make this happen,” he said.
The two continued to tour the prison, Kardashian studying while asking questions. Ultimately, she was the one who told him about Jones and his impending execution.
Budnick is “deeply involved” and the pair will meet with influencers from entertainment, sports, music and faith groups.
“We built multiple zooms in Oklahoma and Kim with the evangelical pastor, and no matter who I asked her to do the zooms with, the answer was always, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it,'” he said. Say. “She believed so much in Julius’ innocence that no one wouldn’t speak to her on the phone.”
Budnick, who traveled to Oklahoma with Kardashian, said they visited Julius Jones in the morning and then went to church with his family.
“We sat down and talked to them for a while. Apparently Kim took 1,000 pictures with all the kids in the church,” he said. They also had dinner at the governor’s mansion, Budnick said, and Kardashian deftly steered the conversation to prison reform.
CNN has reached out to Governor Stitt’s office for comment.
Budnick says Kardashian doesn’t just walk, she’ll do any mundane task you ask her if it helps illuminate prison reform.
“She’s so powerful. I see her doing everything she wants. I mean no limits,” he said of her future as a lawyer. “She always asks me about building an organization, she meets experts, she meets law professors, she meets people who do data. Kim is clearly against naivety and those in prison against crime.”
Jones’ sister agreed.
“She kept her word. She said she would be there to help, and she was,” she said, adding that Kardashian single-mindedly told her why she was so keen to fix the prison system.
“She said that when she saw Julius’ situation, she thought of her son,” she said.
The new episode of “The Kardashians” will air on Hulu on Thursday.
