MLK died for the “dangerous ideas” of justice, peace, and equality
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More than five decades ago on April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee by James Earl Ray, a white supremacist. He was just 54 years old when he was killed in a violent act. His killing was the latest in a long line of assassinations of Black activists both in the US and around the world. It was a murder that was designed to deal a blow to the civil rights movement.
Martin Luther King Jr. played a pivotal role in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, leading marches and demonstrations in the fight for racial equality and social justice. King was a staunch advocate for voting rights, labor rights for minorities, and the desegregation of public spaces, such as schools and restaurants. He employed nonviolent resistance to challenge the Jim Crow laws that enforced racial segregation in the United States, particularly in the former Confederate States of America. These laws perpetuated economic, educational, political, and social disadvantages for people of colour, and had been in place since the Reconstruction era following the Civil War in the 1870s. Through his activism, King helped to inspire a generation of civil rights leaders and activists, and his legacy continues to inspire people around the world to fight for racial justice and social equality.
The civil rights movement achieved significant legislative victories in the fight for civil rights and social justice. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark piece of legislation that prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex, and national origin. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was another important law that helped to ensure that all Americans had equal access to the ballot box, by outlawing discriminatory voting practices. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 was a follow-up to the Civil Rights Act, which outlawed discrimination in housing. These accomplishments represented major milestones in the struggle for racial equality in America.
Following these achievements, King turned his attention to issues of poverty, economic justice, and opposition to the Vietnam War. He rightly held that these issues were interconnected with the struggle for civil rights, and that true equality could not be achieved without addressing the root causes of poverty and oppression.
The assassination of MLK
On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was staying in Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. As he stood on the balcony of his room, speaking with Reverend Jesse Jackson, he was struck in the face by a rifle bullet and fell to the ground. Despite efforts by medical personnel to revive him, King was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. that evening.
Witnesses saw James Earl Ray fleeing the scene from a nearby house, and investigators later discovered that Ray had been renting a room in the boarding house. Police found a rifle and binoculars, and a manhunt ensued. It took the police a full two months to make an arrest, and those two months were fraught with tensions between people. It was a potentially volatile and inflammatory situation, with the already documented surveillance regime on political figures and groups that threatened the racist establishment.
Quelling a wave of popular uprising
“You can kill a man but not his ideas” – Che Guevara
To the white supremacist establishment, notions of equality, racial justice, and economic inclusion were dangerous ideas. They attacked the very foundations of the capitalist establishment upon which white, conservative American society flourished.
Some members of King’s family and many others have claimed that his assassination was part of a larger conspiracy involving the U.S. government. The FBI had previously investigated MLK for his involvement with civil rights organizations and had engaged in surveillance of his personal life, including secret recordings of his conversations. In 1964, an anonymous letter threatening to expose King’s extramarital affairs was sent to him, which some believe was an attempt by the FBI to blackmail him.
This formed the basis of institutional mistrust between Black people and white institutions that had been brewing for years, of not generations. It is no surprise that protests broke out all over the US following MLK’s assassination.
A wave of protests unfolded across America, despite a co-ordinated PR campaign to defuse the volatile situation. triggered a wave of unrest and rioting across the United States. The day after the assassination, then Senator Robert F Kennedy delivered a speech in which he denounced the riots and civil disorder, stating that they could not right any wrongs and were instead a reflection of madness, not the will of the people. As with any previous or subsequent exhortations calling for “law and order” it was completely out of touch with the momentous nature of the event. The assassination was a provocation, not the first, and certainly not the last. Similar responses were the norm, for example, Rodney King, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and others.
In the wake of MLK’s assassination, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Chicago, and Kansas City, among others were the scenes of intense protests. On April 8, Coretta Scott King and her four children led a crowd of around 40,000 people in a silent march through Memphis to honour King but also to support the cause of the city’s sanitation workers who were asking for better working conditions. The next day nationally televised funeral rites were held in Atlanta, Georgia, his hometown.
Assassination still shrouded in mystery
Questions still remain about the assassination to this day.
James Earl Ray, a former US soldier, was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport two months after the assassination and charged with the first-degree murder of Martin Luther King Jr. On March 10, 1969, Ray pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. However, just three days later, he recanted his confession, claiming that he had been coerced into pleading guilty and that he was not responsible for the assassination. Ray went on to allege a conspiracy involving other individuals and entities, including organized crime figures and the U.S. government.
As James Earl Ray served his 99-year sentence in prison, he made multiple attempts to withdraw his guilty plea and request a full trial. However, he was unsuccessful in these efforts until his death in 1998. Even after Ray’s death, King’s son, Dexter, supported Ray’s efforts to obtain a retrial. In addition, Ray’s attorney attempted to secure a trial on behalf of the King family, who believed that Ray was not solely responsible for the assassination.
The curious case of Loyd Jowers
in 1993, a tavern owner named Loyd Jowers claimed on an ABC News program that he was involved in a conspiracy to assassinate Martin Luther King Jr., and that James Earl Ray was not the only person responsible for the murder. Jowers claimed that he was paid by Frank Liberto, an alleged member of the Mafia, to arrange the assassination and that he hired a killer, but it was not Ray.
In 1999, a Memphis jury concluded that Jowers was involved in a conspiracy to assassinate King, and that the plot to kill him also included governmental agencies and “others.” According to Jowers, the King family believed that Lt. Earl Clark of the Memphis Police Department was the true identity of the assassin. However, in 2000, the Department of Justice conducted an investigation into Jowers’ allegations and found no evidence to support the conspiracy claims. Despite these claims by the DoJ, we are still deprived of the full account. Many documents related to the assassination are still classified, and will remain secret until at least the year 2027.
