THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA--Martin Luther King, Jr. would be 78 this-year. He could have lived this long had he not been assassinated. Many people have contended that James Earl Ray was the "lone-gunman" (there were too-many in the 1960s to be safe) in the crime. I don't believe this, and along with the assassination of RFK, his murder has the more-indications of a conspiracy than most. There are so many troubling-questions and inconsistencies surrounding his assassination, that a real investigation is in-order. The House Select Committee on Assassinations didn't do a good job--it was pathetic. Meanwhile, the government and the right pay shadowy shills like Gerald Posner to write obvious misinformation that rejects any idea of conspiracy to murder Dr. King. This is racism, pure-and-simple.
It strikes me that elements of Military Intelligence, the FBI, and White Citizens councils murdered this man in a cluster-effect. We know from a 1960s-era document that the FBI privately took-credit for the assassination of Malcolm X. We also know that on December 4th, 1969, the Illinois State Police, Chicago Police, and the FBI, conspired to murder Illinois Black Panther leaders Mark Clark and Fred Hampton, and they succeeded. Congressman Bobby Rush was supposed to be at the scene that night, but luckily wasn't, or he might also be dead. In other words, conspiracy to murder American citizens is a reality in our history. What is particularly-galling about the lack of any seriousness in the investigations into Dr. King's murder is that it is typical of those who vanished or were murdered because of their activities in the Civil Rights movement. Finding the murderers of Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney was a PR-stunt, and was atypical.
However, martyrs can be problematic. The solution was to embrace the iconography of the Civil Rights movement, and Dr. King (in image only). Martin Luther Jr. has been co-opted, essentially. But, it's a double-edged sword, and it educates children about this great revolutionary--a revolutionary in-the-best-sense, one with a heart. This is the most-dangerous form of revolution to established power, which is why he had to die in their eyes. His opposition to the war in Vietnam also endangered him, and he offered a counterbalance to Black Power that was effective for both-approaches. Yes, the House Select Committee found that James Earl Ray did the assassination--a questionable conclusion--but they also concluded there had been a conspiracy.
In 1998, the Clinton administration briefly-reopened the case--and promptly destroyed a piece of key-evidence provided by a former FBI agent who had found it in Ray's white mustang (he pocketed-it, knowing it would vanish back in 1968). The King family have had abuse-after-abuse heaped on them for contending that they felt James Earl Ray was innocent--a patsy--by the government and the media. This is very telling in-itself, but add-to-the-mix the fact that a jury in Memphis in 1999 found Loyd Jowers guilty as part of a criminal-conspiracy to murder Dr. King. It was barely-reported, and no national media were present when the verdict came. The mainstream media were told to stand-down, just as they have with George W. Bush's crimes, those of the rest of the political class, and corporations.
House Select Committee Report:
http://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/select-committee-report/part-2b.html
1997: http://www.cnn.com/US/9707/12/rayrifle.reax/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/US/9703/27/ray.king/index.html
1998: http://www.cnn.com/US/9804/03/king.1968/
1999/2000 (The Memphis trial of Loyd Jowers): http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/MLKconExp.html#no6
Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site:
http://www.nps.gov/malu/
The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute (King Papers):
http://www-leland.stanford.edu/group/King/
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