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COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) – For Columbia native Shawnte Williams, redemption came after years of turmoil and trauma.
Her faith guided her through a dark season in her life as she navigated 2005 nonviolent drug charges on her record.
That record has now been erased.
Williams was one of 39 pardoned by President Joe Biden and nearly 1,500 whose sentences were commuted in an historic act of forgiveness on Thursday.
“I’m not going to say I cant believe it because I prayed, but I’m still in awe because it’s been a long time, and I suffered and I have struggled, but now this is letting me know that doors are about to be opened,” she said in an exclusive interview Friday. “Prayers that I prayed a long time ago is about to be answered, and I’m just grateful and I’m thankful because God is good.”
Williams, 45, said her emotions have been all over the place, but she is overjoyed and motivated to be better.
Giving all glory to God, she said she feels a duty to help others overcome and avoid similar situations that plagued her in her youth.
“If I could help one person, I’m okay,” Williams said. “But I don’t want to stop at one. But if that’s only what I do, that’s going to be a happy moment for me.”
Raised by her grandmother, Williams said she had a hard childhood and spent a lot of time hanging around the wrong crowds. She found herself indicted in her 20s, and eventually pleaded guilty to federal drug charges.
Williams served three years probation.
“This is nothing that God did, this is something that I chose to do,” she said. “So, that was on me. But if I continue to believe in Him, and to trust in Him, I know that He’s going to make a way for me.”
She described the dark cloud of the drug offenses that she said lingered with her for nearly 20 years, making it difficult to hold jobs or seek out new opportunities.
“I was distraught, because, I’m like, ‘Will I ever be able to get where I’m trying to go?’” she said, describing those internal battles.
Williams explained how she barely shared her struggles with anyone, and while at times it was difficult, she always maintained her faith.
“He will guide us through it,” she said. “It may not be the time that we want it, it may not look like we want it to look, but see He’s always in the back making ways for us when we don’t even know it.”
Williams knew that she wanted better for herself and her children so she started researching the presidential pardon process in 2017.
Her criminal record forced her out of a one job working with children that she said gave her great joy a few years ago.
“After I lost that job, it’s like I just didn’t want to work anyway, I just didn’t want to do anything,” Williams said. “But every day I got up, I smiled and I pretended that I was happy. But I wasn’t.”
She emailed pardon attorneys routinely, seeking updates on her case.
On Nov. 20, she sent an email that stated, in part, the charges “are hindering me from moving forward in life.”
On Wednesday of this week, bedridden and two days out of surgery, she received a call from a Washington, D.C., number.
It was the White House with a call that would change her life.
It was a call for a second chance.
When she heard the news, Williams said she took a long pause.
“I’m free,” she said, describing what she was thinking at that moment. “That’s the song that played in my head. I am free. Praise the Lord, I’m free. No longer bound, no more chains holding me.”
Biden said he was honored to grant pardons to people “who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation,” describing Williams as a “loyal and dependable community member.”
“Those words are like words from God,” Williams said. “It’s like encouragement from Him. It’s like he spoke through this man for me to really get it. Because I’ve been through a lot in life and it’s hard for me to believe when people say that the things about me like they love me and stuff like that because of so much trauma and so much different things that have happened, it’s hard for me to receive it sometimes. But I received that.”
Williams said she has a heart for children.
She is active in her church, and now hopes to pass along her testimony to others through youth and women’s nonprofits.
The message: don’t give up on yourself.
Williams was one of two from South Carolina who were pardoned by the president this week.
The other was a 43-year-old Gaffney woman named Denita Parker.
U.S. Congressman Jim Clyburn, who represents South Carolina’s Sixth District, said in a statement, “This grant of clemency and restoration of rights is a significant step forward.”
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