A reader responds:
Interesting piece on RayLew#52, or Mufasa, as they call him in Bmore. Obstruction of Justice is no small crime, but in reality, he didn’t kill those two men. The fact is that the two fellows who were charged with murder were acquitted, and the fact that that no one has since been put on trial is unfortunate. It is sad that justice hasn’t had its fair turn in the death of two victims.
That said, what Ray has done for the city of Baltimore, the countless lives he has saved (through programs between BCPD and homeless men of Baltimore), the lives he has touched, and the relationship he has with a city and its people cannot be overlooked. He has turned his life around, and made all the right moves since that night 13 years ago. You cannot take away what happened, and his role, whatever it might be, but Ray doesn’t hide from it. He tries to use it as strength in religious ways that I personally don’t understand or practice, but it seems to work for him. Say what you will, but he has been a positive role model and figure in the NFL – since his “obstruction of justice”- and has made the best of his second chance. I probably defend him too much, and I do realize he made a bad mistake. After all the years of reading articles, watching news, and other TV programs on him, I can’t help but think that he is trying to use that one bad incident as a motivation for making his life – and the lives of others – the best it can be.
–the writer, Ethan Turner, is a New York advertising executive and lifelong fan of all things Baltimore, where he grew up