Racist? Donald Trump appoints Alice Marie Johnson, a Black woman, as “Pardon Czar”

On February 20, 2025, during a Black History Month reception at the White House, President Donald Trump announced, Alice Marie Johnson, a woman whose life sentence he commuted in 2018 and fully pardoned in 2020, would serve as his administration’s “pardon czar.

Alice Marie Johnson’s story is one of resilience and redemption. In 1996, Johnson, a single mother of five from Memphis, Tennessee, was convicted of nonviolent drug offenses related to a cocaine trafficking operation. She was sentenced to life in prison without parole—a punishment that many, including Johnson herself, viewed as disproportionately harsh for her role as a “telephone mule,” relaying messages rather than directly handling drugs.

Johnson spent over two decades behind bars, using her time to mentor fellow inmates, work in the prison hospice, volunteer in the church, and even become an ordained minister. Her case gained national attention in 2018 when reality television star Kim Kardashian West took up her cause. Kardashian met with Trump in the Oval Office, advocating for Johnson’s release. Just a week later, Trump commuted Johnson’s sentence, freeing her after 21 years in prison.

In August 2020, during his re-election campaign, Trump granted her a full pardon, erasing the conviction from her record. Since then, Johnson has emerged as a prominent advocate for criminal justice reform, founding “Taking Action For Good” to push for clemency and support for others in situations like hers.

As “pardon czar,” she will advise the president on clemency cases, drawing on her personal experience and advocacy work to recommend individuals who she believes deserve a second chance. Speaking at the White House event, Trump praised Johnson as an “inspiration,” noting that her 22-year imprisonment was for “something that today probably wouldn’t even be prosecuted.” He added, “You’re going to look, and you’re going to make recommendations, and I’ll follow those recommendations.”

Johnson’s appointment doesn’t erase Trump’s controversial history. His tough-on-crime stance, calls for harsher policing, and past remarks still fuel accusations of racial bias. Critics on X, like @JusticeNow23 dismissed the move: “One Black woman doesn’t undo years of dog whistles.”

Can a single act—or even a series of them—redefine a presidency’s racial legacy?

Donald Trump has faced accusations of racism throughout his public life, stemming from a combination of statements, actions, and policies that critics argue reflect racial bias or insensitivity. These claims span his career as a real estate mogul, television personality, and politician. Yet the appointment of Johnson complicates the narrative. Johnson herself has praised Trump, crediting him with giving her “a second chance at life.”