Harris-Stowe State University’s Presidential Lecture Series has brought an array of talented leaders and entertainers to the HCBU campus, and the January 25, 2024 session lived up to its high standard.
The movie, “Kemba,” a chronicle of the journey of Kemba Smith, a passionate advocate for criminal justice reform, was screened. It was followed by a Q&A session moderated by Award-winning journalist and reporter, Carol Daniels.
Asked by Daniels how it felt to relive her experience on the widescreen, Smith answered honestly.
“It tugs at my heart strings…the script was difficult for me to go through,” she said.
“But I got to be a part of the whole (moviemaking) process. It’s been surreal to look at the screen and what I’m sharing over and over again but I think it’s going to help so many other people. I know how much of an impact it’s going to have.”
Smith was sentenced to 24 1/2 years in 1995 under federal mandatory minimum sentencing laws without parole. Even though prosecutors admitted Smith-a first-time offender-never touched or distributed drugs, she was convicted of conspiracy to traffic in cocaine.
Smith told the audience that Emerge magazine’s 1996 article, “Kemba’s Nightmare: A Model Child Becomes Prisoner in Drug Sentencing Frenzy” served as an anchor for the film. The award-winning director, Kelley Kali, Smith added, felt that-without the 21-page article-the movie wouldn’t have had “the whole story.”
Smith encouraged students wanting to pursue journalism degrees, to reflect on the power of the now defunct magazine, which was edited by the late George Curry, a former reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and a founder of the St. Louis Minority Journalism Workshop.
The articledetailed how “a flamboyant young man from New York,” Smith’s then boyfriend, Peter Michael Hall, 31, beat her with “fists, belts and brushes” and reportedly threatened to harm her family if she refused to do what he said.
According to federal authorities, Hall was the leader of a violent, multi-million-dollar drug ring that moved as much as $4 million in powder and crack cocaine between New York and Virginia from 1989 to 1993, the year Kemba Smith finished high school.
Hall, who was placed on the “15 Most Wanted list” was found shot to death in a Seattle apartment in 1994. Wanted as a material witness, Smith turned herself in that year and was held without bond. As Emerge noted, Smith pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiring to distribute cocaine, even though she had only ridden in a van carrying drugs; money laundering (she had sent money to Hall who was on the run) and lying to federal authorities about Hall’s whereabouts. In the end, Smith was held accountable for the entire 225 kilograms of crack cocaine distributed by Hall’s drug ring.
The movie also depicts how Elaine Jones, president of the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund (LDF) read about the case in Emerge and decided the organization needed to get involved. The LDF challenged Ms. Smith’s sentence and, alongside her family, developed a public education campaign to expose the injustice of excessive sentences for individuals with abusive or deprived circumstances.
Smith’s 2013 book, Poster Child: The Kemba Smith Story and “Kemba” the movie graphically chronicles Smith’s traumatic experience with domestic abuse, injustice, disenfranchisement, re-entry, and eventual release. In December 2000, during his final days in office, President Bill Clinton commuted Smith’s prison sentence to the 6 1/2 years she had already served.
The movie serves as a reminder of the harmful effects of America’s “War on Drugs” in the early 1990s and ongoing injustices in this country’s penal system.
Since her release, Smith-a mother of two-has earned a bachelor’s degree in social work, a law degree from the Howard University School of Law and she travels the country advocating for drug sentencing law reform.
During the Q&A portion of Thursday’s event, Daniels asked Smith: “At what point did you decide ‘this is not about me’ and you were going to become an activist and address the unfair prison laws in this country?”
“Once those prison doors opened and I learned of all it took to get them opened,” Smith responded. She elaborated, recalling bittersweet feelings of more than 20 years ago.
“The movie didn’t capture everything, but I remember when I got word of my release, they brought the whole prison yard down and all the women had gathered and were congratulating me. My heart was breaking over the simple fact that I knew there were other women like me who deserved to come home, too.”
Daniels, who had interviewed Smithafter her book release, asked her about the “survivor skills,” they discussed and if Smith still grappled with them.
“Yes, that was when I came home and basically couldn’t stop crying,” Smith answered. “I was grateful for this act of mercy from the president that was given to me, but my spirit kept thinking about others who deserved it (clemency). There’s just so many people that need to be free now.”
Upon her release, Smith said she recognized that she needed “to keep being the human face” of the population of incarcerated black women. “I wanted to be vulnerable and expose this plight so that it could help free someone else.”
Smith’s sentiments are backed by brutal facts. According to a recent report from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), women are the fastest growing segment of the incarcerated population with women and girls of color significantly overrepresented in the criminal justice system. In addition, according to the report, many have entered the criminal justice system as adolescents who were victims of violence before incarceration.
Smith told the audience that the movie is “not just about me.” A social impact campaign, she added, focusing on clemency, 2nd chance legislation and other criminal justice reform issues will accompany the film’s official but unannounced release on the BET Network.
The almost-packed audience of Harris Stowe’s Emerson Performance Center/Bank of America Theatre not only had an early opportunity to see a dramatic story of poor choices and painful circumstances, faith, perseverance, and good fortune; they were given a visual reason to join a seasoned warrior in an effort to “free others.”
Sylvester Brown Jr. is the Deaconess Foundation Community Advocacy Fellow.
