26 APRIL 1968, Page 29

Martin Luther King's America

Sir: At the end of his article in your issue of 19 April, your American—or should one say anti-American?—correspondent declares that 'power is sinful.'

Every state, however small, necessarily em- bodies the concept of power, both internally and externally. Does he really mean that the state itself, and political society, represent 'sin'?

If so, he should perhaps sign himself not `Murray Kempton' but `Manichaean.'

Martin Carmichael 4 Queen Anne's Grove, Chiswick. London W4