After prison and shut doors, former inmate seeks to help others reenter society

Johnny Waller, a local activist who touts the motto “dream big,” smiles often. It’s as if he knows a little bit more about life — the good side and the bad side — than others do, and he’s happy living on the good side. That was not always the case. As a teen, Waller spent several years in prison. When he got out, opportunities weren’t there. Today, knowing what he does about the challenges faced by the formerly incarcerated, Waller is passionate about helping those men and women clear their records and seek second chances at becoming productive citizens.

The Star invited Waller to join us in the studio of KKFI to share his story of redemption and his push for legislative changes that would help people who have served their time in prison return to society in a productive way. He recently spoke to Mará Rose Williams, The Star’s assistant managing editor for race and equity. That interview, with minor editing for space and clarity, is published here in a question and answer format to share Waller’s authentic voice.

MEET JOHNNY WALLER

The Star: So I know that you are involved with expungement and second chances for the formerly incarcerated.

Yeah. So expungement is a process that you go through here in Missouri under legislation. 610.140. And it pretty much is supposed to seal someone’s criminal records background. And so we do the expungement project to help people clear their background. There’s 1.8 million people in Missouri who have a criminal record. And so we want to help seal them so they can move forward with their life.

Are we talking about people who, you know, have too many parking tickets or are we talking about people who maybe committed a felony?

We’re talking about not so much traffic tickets, but people who have more serious misdemeanors. And then, of course, yes, felony convictions like possession (of drugs) and possession with intent or something of that magnitude — stealing, forgery, those type of crimes.

So when you say do this and do that, who’s the we you’re talking about?

Well, the group is called the CMA, which is the Clear My Record project.

And do you get a lot of people coming in? Tell me how it works.

So when you talk about mass incarceration there are a lot of people with criminal records. A lot of people get online and they Google search especially after people have been denied housing, or denied employment, or food stamps or whatever assistance that they need. So they will either look it up or ask somebody or go to a community organization and they will point them towards the expungement clinic. (It’s) free for people who qualify in the income level.

So let’s say if I had some misdemeanor or felony in my history and I got that expunged and then went for a job, would I have to answer the question, “Have you ever been convicted of a felony,” yes? Or can I answer that question no since it’s been expunged?

You could answer no.

And there would be no penalty for that?

No, absolutely not.

So expungement just gets rid of it altogether.

It’s supposed to. Absolutely.

Why did you say it’s supposed to?

I received a pardon and when my background was checked it just came back and said, “Johnny Waller, pardon.” And I was like,

“Yeah, that doesn’t do me much good because it’s still there.” So I’m still trying to expand the legislation and work it out to where when people actually do get an expungement that it’s no longer visible to anybody.

Let me find out a little bit more about Johnny. Did you grow up in Omaha? Did you grow up in Kansas City?

I grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and I came to Kansas City probably when I was 20 years old.

Tell me about your upbringing. What was that like?

Well, it wasn’t glorious. So I grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and my neighborhood was pretty gang infested. And it turned out I experienced some homelessness when I was young. I joined a gang, got into some altercations and got into a shootout, eventually got shot in the head. And