Along with many others, you may be wondering, what’s all the talk about Former President Donald Trump pardoning about? Well, first what does it mean to be pardoned? Simply put this is allowing someone to be relieved of their crime. As stated by The Center for American Progress, “a pardon exempts a convicted individual from any remaining punishment or future consequences stemming from a conviction” (Center For American Progress). To add some much-needed context on why this has been in recent news, in Former President Trump’s final 24 hours leading up to 

President Biden’s inauguration, Trump pardoned and granted clemency to a whopping seventy-three people and commuted seventy more sentences, (meaning he lessened the sentence time). Within these seventy-three people, two of which were famous rappers who go by the names Lil Wayne and Kodak Black.

Pretty much the entire time Kodak has been in and out of prison there has been a movement to free him. This movement went by the name ‘Free Kodak”. Kodak has been to jail multiple times, but he most recently was arrested in 2019 for unlawful possession of weapons and was sentenced to almost four years in prison. As of four days ago, he was pardoned by former President Trump, and two days ago he was returned home. According to the Bureau of Prisons inmate database, on January 20th Kodak was released from the USP Thomson federal prison in Thomson Illinois. 

The exact reasons why he was pardoned is a mystery however Trump and his team expressed and focused on many of Kodak’s philanthropist efforts, including his large donations to provide education to the underprivileged. Kodak has paid for notebooks for children, funded daycare centers, providing food for shelters, and every Christmas he helps fund gifts for underprivileged children. Kodak made sure to thank Trump in a tweet saying, “I Want To Thank The President @RealDonaldTrump For His Commitment To Justice Reform And Shortening My Sentence. I Also Want To Thank Everyone For Their Support And Love. It Means More Than You Will Ever Know. I Want To Continue Giving Back, Learning And Growing.”

If pardoning Kodak was for the better or worse, will be figured out soon. He may be returning to jail shortly however, as he still has charges aginst him that were not pardoned.