HOW DOES DRUG DEALER REPRESENT MLK?

Editor, Times-Dispatch: I have read your story on Kemba Smith, and am
trying to figure out what connection a convicted felon has with Martin
Luther King and his goals ["Smith Offers Advice While Hailing Icon,"
January 16].

A good part of the story appears to deal with the harsh treatment of drug
offenders. I live in a neighborhood where we are trying to get rid of these
nonviolent drug offenders. We clean up their needles and trash; we listen
to their bullets, cursing, and cars at all hours of the day and night. The
fear, anxiety, and danger that these nonviolent people put into
neighborhoods - especially to children - are things that appear to be
minimized by lots of people like judges and Michael Paul Williams.

The selection of Ms. Smith to speak at the King observance is sad and even
obscene. It represents a narrow-minded way of thinking, as evidenced by the
facts that we live in a city in which half the children can't read
properly, (thankfully only) 75 people are murdered each year, teen-age
pregnancy and sexual diseases are rampant, streets are dirty, and many are
on welfare.

I certainly cannot speak for King, but somehow I feel that safe streets,
educated children, and people from all walks of life living good lives
would be his messages. I wonder how he would feel knowing that with all the
good, selfless people who contribute to improving the quality of life in
this city, the most celebrated speaker in his honor was a convicted felon.

Sad, very sad. Michael W. Powell. richmond.