The Florida A&M University School of Journalism and Graphic Communication (SJGC) has announced that Kemba Smith will be the featured speaker at its Journalism Colloquium Thursday, November 8, at 11a.m., in Lee Hall Auditorium. The general public is invited to attend.
Smith will tell her story of being an impressionable student at Hampton University, Hampton, Va., falling into the wrong crowd and becoming involved with a young man who turned out to be a drug dealer.
She found herself in the middle of her boyfriend’s $4 million crack cocaine ring and a life of physical, mental and emotional abuse.
Her unwitting participation in the crack cocaine world led to being sentenced to 24.5 years and serving 6.5 years in federal prison. Smith regained her freedom in December 2000 when former President Bill Clinton pardoned her.
Joining Smith at the colloquium will be Reginald Stuart, a veteran journalist whose article about Smith appeared in Emerge magazine. Stuart’s article sparked a groundswell of attention and support that helped lead to her presidential pardon.
“We are pleased to have Smith and Stuart on our campus,” said Jim Hawkins, dean of the SJGC. “Her story is an inspirational one that our students will appreciate. This case also reflects the importance of the media in helping to right an egregious wrong.”
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