“Take me home.”
I had given interviews to the press at the foot of the prison compound, where I talked emotionally about my freedom. When that was over, it was finally time to go.
I began the long journey home.
Catina had to tell me which car was hers—the blue one—and I climbed in while the cameras rolled. I waved and gestured with my hands, because it was the first time I’d been in a vehicle without shackles in over two decades. None of those cutting leg irons either.
Catina drove, and my granddaughters talked in the back seat. I kept pausing as I listened to the GPS system electronically instruct her how to get home from the prison—a big upgrade from paper maps, but also a little distracting. I’d never heard anything like that before. The car beeped and dinged and seemed to talk back in a way I’d never seen. I soon learned no one gives directions, they give addresses.
On the way home, the media called and I gave interviews. I talked to Anderson Cooper on CNN live, while my daughter Tretessa was also on via satellite. She hadn’t been able to come to my release all the way from Arizona on such short notice, but she was there in spirit. I saw her in the faces of my other family members. I told Anderson that I would not disappoint America. So many people had put their trust in me. It was almost like there was a big buildup of anticipation between the time that Kim told people about my plight and the moment she met with President Trump. Many people told me they were praying for me—individually and entire churches.
“I want to tell President Trump that you will not regret giving me this second chance on life,” I told Anderson Cooper. “I will not disappoint the American public, who had so much faith in me.” While I was talking, my eighteen-month-old great-grandson babbled in the background, but I loved that. The sound of children. The sound of family. That’s what I wanted to be my soundtrack for the rest of my life.
When we neared my sister Coria’s house, my pulse quickened as I saw cars lined up everywhere. We turned into the driveway of her spacious home, and I took a moment to thank God for my miracle. The rest of the caravan of family members who had traveled to Mississippi were pulling up in their cars too. As I alighted from the car, I could hear the sounds of laughter and excited voices. Someone opened the door of the house and yelled, “She’s here!” I was met with shouts, screams, and so many tears. Everyone was trying to get near me and touch me at the same time. By this time, I was sobbing and looking at my family through a blur of tears. “I’m home! I’m home!” I just kept repeating. There was not a dry eye in the room, including the journalists who were inside with my family.
The wonderful aroma of food penetrated my senses. I looked around, and the only word I can use to describe the feast before me was INCREDIBLE. In just three hours, my nieces and nephews had come together to cook a scrumptious meal that included fried chicken, fish, spaghetti and meatballs, coleslaw, cobblers, cakes, pecan pies, fresh vegetables, and so much more good southern food. I looked around and saw the faces of so many relatives I didn’t recognize and some I’d never met. But I knew they were family because of the resemblance to everyone else. There were also gathered inside the house friends who’d come as soon as they discovered that I was going to be at Coria’s.
After we finished eating, my nieces Sherri and Shelia started singing what had become a theme song for my family as they fought and prayed for me: Mary Mary’s “Can’t Give Up Now.” We all joined in and sang the chorus with them. More tears of thanksgiving flowed. Finally it was time to leave. My brother, Julius, and I had planned for years that when I got out of prison I would stay with him as long as I wanted to. My family and friends brought clothing over so that I would have extra changes of clothes. My sister Coria packed a necessities bag for me—underwear, toiletries, and pajamas. I was all set for my first night outside prison.
When I arrived at Julius’s house, he showed me around. Without being invited to, I opened his refrigerator and looked inside. That really excited me, to be able to open that door. The last time I’d opened a refrigerator door in a house was October 31, 1996. Julius showed me to my room, and I saw a sight that made me freeze in my tracks—a king-size bed. After I finished my shower and put my pajamas on, I made sure my brother wasn’t looking. Then I dived onto the bed and made a snow angel on top of it. I rolled around and laughed and kicked my legs and bounced up and down like a kid. No more bunk beds!
The next morning, I went on a marathon of interviews and television appearances. (The last one was at two a.m. live on Good Morning Britain.) One thing that several reporters asked me about was what I was looking forward to getting now that I was out of prison.
“I want one of those smartphones that everyone has,” I replied. Now that I was out of prison, I noticed that everywhere I looked people were walking around talking on the phone and texting. Some were FaceTiming. One of my favorite television shows growing up was The Jetsons. They had phones where you could see the person you were talking to. I thought at the time that this was some futuristic sci-fi stuff, not knowing that one day I’d be walking around and be able to see people on the phone, too. When I did get a smartphone, I was really confused about how to use it. I remarked, “Now that I have a smartphone, I realize I’m the dummy!” My grandson agreed to give me a tutorial.
Kim generously made accommodations for my daughter Tretessa and her three-month-old twins—Amira Charlotte and Aiden Charles (dubbed the grandtwins) and my son Bryant to spend some time with me. They flew in from Arizona to Memphis, arriving on June 11, and were treated like royalty.
Finally, the date was set for me to meet Kim Kardashian West in person for the first time. Keeping Up with the Kardashians, the Today show, and MIC filming crews arrived early on Wednesday, June 13, to capture our first meeting. It was one week since I’d been released when Kim landed in a private jet in Memphis and headed across the Tennessee–Mississippi border.
Let me tell you, the small town of Southaven was not used to this level of excitement. At around ten o’clock, satellite trucks arrived at Coria’s house. Local reporters also arrived, setting up at the end of the driveway, their long camera lenses focused on the house every second. Then, as news drifted through the town that Kim was coming, people slowly began driving by, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. Neighbors joined the reporters waiting across the street. They were all excited when they saw the caravan coming down the two-lane road.
I interviewed with Hoda Kotb of the Today show, first by myself before Kim arrived, and told her about a picture that I had of Kim and Kanye from when they were in high school. I’d torn it from a magazine and placed it in my Bible so I could pray for them every day.
One of the show’s producers asked me if I still had that picture in my Bible. “Yes, but my Bible is at my brother’s house,” I said.
“Do you think someone could go get it?” he asked. “Do you remember where you last had it, so they could grab it?”
Of course I knew where my Bible was located. I’d be more likely to misplace my toothbrush than my Bible. The producers took Julius to his house and I told him where my Bible was. But when he grabbed it, he flipped through the pages and said, “I didn’t see the picture in there.”
“It’s there,” I said, knowing that the pages were so thin that sometimes it’s hard to find your place. “Just come on back and bring it.”
Kim arrived at my sister’s around one p.m. The reporters documented every second. Even though the media was set up at the end of my sister’s long driveway, their audio equipment would pick up every sound. Along with my big family, three of my attorneys were there: Mike Scholl, the local attorney in Memphis; Jennifer Turner (whom I’d met in person for the first time the night before); and Brittany Barnett, whom I had seen in prison face-to-face in Carswell when she was a law student. Hoda would be interviewing Kim and me after our reunion. (By the way, I simply love Hoda. She had us laughing and singing so much, and she blended right in with my family.)
When Kim rang the doorbell, I answered it and we both screamed then hugged each other so tightly. Finally I was meeting the woman who went to war to save my life. Meeting Kim did not feel like I was meeting a celebrity; it felt like I was meeting a friend. Walking in right behind Kim was my lead attorney, Shawn Holley. I didn’t greet Shawn as warmly, because I didn’t recognize her. Her hair was in a ponytail. She looked so young, I thought she was Kim’s assistant! I was expecting her to look like an older woman to match all her accomplishments.
I can’t tell you what it was like to meet this woman who had saved my life in person. We laughed, cried, reminisced, and talked about southern cooking. I told her I’d love to cook for her one day, and she agreed to let me do just that. Kim also showed me what Snapchat looked like, and she put funny ears and noses on pictures of both of us—which I loved seeing.
Another exciting moment was when Kim called Kanye and passed me the phone.
“Hi, Kanye. I’m sitting here in front of your beautiful wife. I want you to know that the people here in Memphis love you,” I said. “This is something that gives not only prisoners hope, but America hope. You played a big role in this.” I know Kanye had opened the door for my release through his support of President Trump.
When Kim and I interviewed with Hoda jointly, Hoda asked me to tell Kim about how I prayed for her and Kanye. I knew the photo would be located at Isaiah 54:17. When Hoda handed me my Bible, I turned right to it. I explained that I had been praying protection around them. “No weapon formed against Kim and Kanye shall prosper. And every tongue which rises against them in judgment, they shall condemn it.” They better not mess with Kim, not even with their tongue.
What a day it was! It was one that will live in my heart forever. But it wouldn’t be the last time I would see Kim in person. In October, we would both be invited to the Google offices in Mountain View, California, for a fireside chat on criminal justice reform with Malika Saada Saar.
Later, in November, I was invited to Los Angeles—to the city Kim and Kanye call home—with my sisters Patricia and Dolores. I sent a list of ingredients in advance, so I could show Kim how to cook biscuits from scratch, the easy way. We also made beef and gravy, fried chicken, cream potatoes, baked macaroni, collard greens, and much more. I got to meet and eat dinner with Kanye, Kim’s sisters, and her mother and her children. Even some of her extended family members—nieces and nephews—came to meet me. They were so kind, and just regular people. They reminded me so much of how close my family is. While we chatted, I noticed that Kris was crying at the table. I think she was thinking of what it would’ve been like to be locked up and separated from her family.
Although people from around the world saw me running across the street on June 6, 2018, what they don’t know is that I’ve been running ever since, fighting for those I left behind. I have had the opportunity to speak on numerous platforms and appear with some of the greatest thought leaders of the day.
Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that I would be honored at the United Nations for fighting for the rights of women and using my voice to magnify their issues while I was in prison. I was selected as one of four women from around the world to be honored on International Women’s Day, March 8, at the United Nations. We were the first to receive the Women’s Rights Defender designation, and I was the only one from North America.
Every year, a clip is made of the most searched-for people and topics of the year. I was included in the “Google Year in Search 2018.” As news of President Trump granting me clemency at the request of Kim Kardashian West broke, people wanted to find out more about me.
President Donald Trump continues to talk about the day I was released from prison and how it made him feel. He loved seeing my family after over two decades of separation reunite and celebrate. When the president signed the First Step Act into law on December 21, 2018, he spoke of me. To have touched the heart of a president leaves me in awe.
I am very humbled by where this journey has taken me. My story is more than a story of a woman given a life sentence and then a second chance at life. It is more than a story of hope just for prisoners. It is a story of hope for all people. Everyone has experienced the death of something or someone.
The loss of a dream, of health, of a relationship, and maybe even of freedom. Whatever the loss, we all have this in common: we suffered. But after life as you may have known it has come to an end—either expected or unexpected—there is still hope for a future that is not determined by your position or your condition in life. No matter the circumstances, your past and present do not have to be your future, as long as you believe.