Pubdate: Sat, 15 Jan 2005 Source: Kansas City Star (MO) Copyright: 2005 The Kansas City Star Contact: http://www.kcstar.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/221 Author: Donald Bradley, The Kansas City Star Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Kemba+Smith EX-INMATE GETS REAL ON POOR CHOICES Kemba Smith played piano and danced ballet growing up as the only child in an upper-middle class suburban family. She made good grades in high school, then went off to prestigious Hampton University in Virginia. She made her parents proud. Then she made them cry. In 1994, Smith was sentenced to 24 years and eight months in federal prison for a drug conspiracy conviction. She said she wanted desperately to be accepted and fell in with the wrong crowd "Friends who are not on the same journey as you -- you need to let them go," Smith on Friday told an audience of Kansas City area high school students. Smith, whose case became a national rallying cry against federal mandatory sentence guidelines before she was pardoned by then-President Bill Clinton, spoke at the Youth Leadership Development Workshop, part of this month's Martin Luther King Jr. celebration. The event, held at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, was organized by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Kansas City. About 100 high school students attended. Workshop topics included abuse in relationships, civil rights of students, abuse of power by adults and achieving diversity in school leadership. Most of the students were African-American, and some of the agenda focused on racial injustice, such as sentencing disparities between whites and minorities. A breakout session was titled: "What to do when stopped by the police." Smith, who grew up in Richmond, Va., continued the theme. Her first-time, nonviolent drug conspiracy conviction and 296-month sentence were often cited by critics who complained that federal mandatory drug penalties were too harsh and ignored what should be key considerations. Smith's boyfriend was a major drug dealer near the Hampton campus, she said. The authorities were after him, but he was killed before a case could be mounted. "That's when they decided to come after me," Smith said Friday. She contends the boyfriend was abusive, and that prosecutors never accused her of transporting or selling drugs. After serving six years in prison -- and a vigorous campaign by her parents and others to free her -- Smith was granted clemency by Clinton in 2000. Smith said she was unfairly punished but acknowledged her mistakes. "I'm a real-life example of what happens when you make poor choices," Smith told the students. "I know how I hurt my parents," she added. "I saw it in their faces when they came to see me. That was the most painful part of prison." She encouraged the students to study in school, get involved in their community and to look beyond rap music's dominant themes of drugs, sex and money. "Don't let the system snatch you up and take you away from your families." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake