Ras Malik, renowned city muralist

THERE WAS something about the mural on Chestnut Street in West Philadelphia that rubbed some people the wrong way. It was beautifully done, to be sure, depicting a boy of about 12 with a basketball against a mosaic of city scenes, storefronts, buildings, the Market-Frankford El. But something wasn't right, something failed to capture the ingredient that the young people of West Philadelphia needed more than anything else in their lives - hope.