24 FEBRUARY 1967, Page 15

The Fall of Adam

SIR,—In his attempt to whitewash Adam Clayton Powell, Murray Kempton omits the central fact that the congressman is a law-breaker who is subject to arrest if he ever goes back to the state of New York. This plus his colossal arrogance about the uses to which he has put taxpayers' money, not the fact that he is a negro, led to his present difficulties.

In 1960 Powell made the mistake of calling a New York City woman, Esther James, a collector of illegal payments for police. He did this not on the floor of the House of Representatives, where he would have been immune, but on television. Mrs James sued for slander and has won virtually every round in the long legal struggle. Powell has been found guilty of contempt of court four times for refusals to pay judgments to Mrs James, and the last conviction was criminal rather than civil. Other members of the House undoubtedly have taken advantage of their office, but none is wanted by the police.

In addition (another fact that Mr Kempton fails to mention), Powell is a Baptist minister and theoreti- cally should conduct himself on a somewhat higher plane than the rank and file. The reality, however, is far removed from the theory. Not only is he blatantly unrepentant about his actions, but also he makes such remarks as 'Jesus went to the Cross and Adam Clayton Powell went to the cross today' after being denied his House seat. The wildest state- ment in a thoroughly fatuous article was that about 'the southern congressmen he [Powell] has always felt were his true kinsmen.' Southern congressmen and negroes are only slightly more akin than oil and water. R. E. GRIFFIN

61 Darmstadt, Graupnerweg 51, Germany