Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was one of the fighters and leaders of the Civil Rights Movement that helped eradicate racism. Dr. King was one of the most charismatic leaders, and his call for peaceful demonstrations and strikes to ensure that the government listened to the poor make him the cream of the nation. His fight for the civil rights was the reason behind his visit to Memphis where he would meet his death. He was in Memphis to support the striking workers to hold their peaceful demonstrations that were to involve more than 500,000 people (Atlee, 2011). The only thing that MLK did not know that his demise had begun immediately he went to Memphis. On April 4, 1968, MLK was assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. Following his death at the St. Joseph hospital, the man responsible was later determined to be James Earl Ray pleaded guilty of the assassination.
Ray who had escaped from prison a year before his release date was an ex-army obsessed with Hitler leading to his lay-off. Since then, Ray was a petty criminal and having purchased the rifle that is claimed to have been used that was found with his fingerprints. Ray pleading guilty led to his sentence of first-degree murder to 99 years’ imprisonment. The incidents that followed the shooting Ray who was said to have shot MLK from the bathroom window at from Jim’s Grill which was across the road from the motel MLK was staying (Pepper, & Pepper, 2003). Ray was able to gain different passports where he fled to Canada before his arrest and eventually pleading guilty. The termed Raoul or Raul as various sources refer to the unknown man or the person behind Ray murdering MLK.
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Official Report
Following Ray’s plead to have killed MLK he changed his confession and wrote to the Judge who had sentenced him to the imprisonment with the need to go to trial. The judge was found dead with Ray’s letter being found. The different witnesses who had different confessions on the murder of MLK were discredited by the investigators leading to the allegations that the investigators had something to hide thus meaning that MLK assassination was a conspiracy and Ray was the lone nut just as in all other conspiracies where there had to be an escape goat. Ray was depicted as a racist who could not stand blacks as illustrated by the committee investigating the case where one of Ray’s companion Huie who stated about Ray’s thought of blacks, "You got to live near niggers to know 'em." He meant that he had no patience with the racial views of people like me who don't "know niggers" and that all individuals who "know niggers" hate them.” ("Findings on Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassination", 2016). These claims have supported the claims that Ray didn't want to remain a nobody among prisoners all his life. Ray wanted to make the "Top Ten" ...Ray wanted to see his face in full color on his favorite TV show. Ray thought that attention and recognition would relieve his feelings of inadequacy and make him feel like somebody” ("Findings on Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassination", 2016). It was clear that such claims would end the conspiracy theory claims from most people but following Ray’s disclaim that he was made to believe that if he did not plead guilty and go to trial, the trial would result in a death penalty hence taking the option.
Conspiracy
The case has cycled and revolved around the government participation and the Mafias as portrayed by Lloyd Jowers, and the over 70 witnesses who claimed that Ray was not the man they either saw or knew. Other people who had bragged about killing MLK or engaging in the planning lead to determining the individual who shot Dr. King with the case that finally ended in 1999 depicted that Dr. King’s death was a conspiracy result in the family receiving $100 for the wrong death suit (Belzer, & Wayne, 2012).
During the case, the evidence tabled before the jury was deemed significant to change the ruling. Pepper, the lawyer behind the significant finding of a less known case bearing the impacts it has to society magnitude, also causes much more conspiracy behind those involved. Since the time Ray, was convicted, some questions were left unanswered by the investigators. Why did Ray kill MLK, how did he know which hotel he would be staying, who helped him escape, plan, and execute the assassination and escape without a trace? Why was King in the Lorraine Motel in Memphis or the room he was as he was supposed to be spending the night in a secluded and secret place? These issues make it clear that other forces were at work in the assassination.
Lloyd Jowers
Jowers stated that he was the owner of Jim’s Grill which is only separated from the Lorraine Motel by the side street and a brush area. He stated that he owed an enormous debt to New Orleans Mafia’s lieutenant, Frank Liberto. Frank knew that the execution of the assassination had to involve the Memphis police corporation, absence, and patsy in place. The Mafia and the Memphis police department (MPD) was carried out in his grill and that Frank had also sent him with a box containing $100,000 that was to be picked up the by the shooter, Raul, later in the day (Posner, 1998). After the shooter had executed the mission, he returned the gun to Jowers while it was still smoking to hide it and was disposed of by a taxi driver at the Mississippi bridge. During the case, most witnesses knew Raul who was later identified as Raul Pereira a military handler of guns. Raul denied the involvement with MLK assassination, but Pepper stated that one of the relatives claimed that once Raul’s identity was known, government agents monitored their phones, protected and advised them (Douglass, 2000).
During the case, it was evident that claimed murder weapon that had Ray’s fingerprints on it and a bag claimed to have been at the crime scene, was found in a doorway of a store. Ray being wanted for escaping prison had left the bag and rifle when he saw a police car parked at the corner. The owner of the store claimed that Ray had left dropped the bag and rifles about ten minutes before the shooting. The investigators discounted the store owner’s evidence, but following the call of a ballistics expert, it was clear that the death bullet was metallurgical different from all the other bullets found in the rifle which were all similar thus leading to more concerns of the reason (Thekingcenter.org, 2014). The GBI report that was previously suppressed, that the fatal shot fired did not match Ray’s rifle.
The FBI, MPD, and the Government
There are proves that the FBI had tried to silence MLK for a long time even threatening to make some information about Dr. King that would be catastrophic to King. The FBI had asked him to commit suicide, but if he failed to do so, he would be silenced. Such claims and the fact that they were responsible for king’s change of the secluded room to a room with a balcony (Jarvis, 2017). The officers stated that other rooms and motels were bugged thus MLK had to stay on the second floor rather than the ground floor. There were shooters at the roof of the hotels to provide security, but at the time of the shooting they were no in the top and did not see the shooter. There are allegations that the camera had filmed or snapped the man who shot MLK at the lower bush and it was not Ray. MLK’s driver had claimed that he had seen a man escape in the bushes below leading to further complication of the issue and situation which was cleared following the allegation that the shot was taken from a lower ground than at equal heights thus discrediting Ray’s notion.
Further evidence claimed that the MPD had changed the schedule and map of the black officers moving them to different stations which left them short of manpower. The MPD and Mafia are claimed to have been working together and had an inside man in MLK’s camp. Rev. Kyle, a supposed friend of King, is said to be the inside man as in earlier investigations he had denied that MLK had visited him that night. He claimed that he was out of place during the shooting, but further conflicts arise if he was only missing to give the shooter a clear shot.
Lastly, the U.S. government is said to have been threatened by MLK due his charisma, and he had started to oppose materialism, with his call for economic equality. The government had thus sent snipers to shoot the UN Ambassador and MLK, but there were claims that before the order to fire was given, they heard the shot thus fled via their motor boat (Pepper, 2015). Pepper reference to the snipers as the Alpha 184-unit existence in 1968 is not traceable and the debate leaves a lot to be determined as it revolves around Special Forces Warren and Murphy, but there is no evidence of these claims.
Conclusion
It is clear that MLK was a threat to the materialism government and was vocal against the Vietnam War, but there are no prove that the government killed him. In all the other allegations there still some missing pieces of the Jowers’ evidence said to be a way to gain $300,000 for having people back the story. These unanswered questions lead to the first question on whether the assassination was a conspiracy or not but according to the 1999 case ruling it is proving that there are many forces involved in the case. The time and lengths the perpetrators or those participating in the secrecy, the conspiracy theories may be true, and Ray was just a lone nut.
References
Atlee, D. (2011). A Brief Summary of William Pepper's An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King . Retrieved 9 June 2017, from https://le.utah.gov/publicweb/PERRYLB/PublicWeb/21605/an_act_of_state_summary.pdf
Belzer, R., & Wayne, D. (2012). Dead wrong: Straight facts on the country's most controversial cover-ups . New York: Skyhorse Pub.
Thekingcenter.org. (2014). Conspiracy Trial | The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. Thekingcenter.org . Retrieved 9 June 2017, from http://www.thekingcenter.org/assassination-conspiracy-trial
Douglass, J. (2000). Martin Luther King Assassination Conspiracy Exposed in Memphis by Jim Douglass. Ratical.org . Retrieved 9 June 2017, from https://ratical.org/ratville/JFK/Unspeakable/MLKconExp.html
Findings on Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassination . (2016). National Archives . Retrieved 9 June 2017, from https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/select-committee-report/part-2b.html
Jarvis, J. (2017, April 4). Why So Many People Believe the FBI Killed Martin Luther King Jr. | The Daily Bell. Thedailybell.com . Retrieved 9 June 2017, from http://www.thedailybell.com/news-analysis/why-so-many-people-believe-the-fbi-killed-martin-luther-king-jr/
Posner, G. L. (1998). Killing the dream: James Earl Ray and the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr . New York: Random House.
Pepper, W. F., & Pepper, W. F. (2003). An act of state: The execution of Martin Luther King . London: Verso.
Pepper, W. F. (2015). Orders to Kill . Skyhorse Publishing.
Ray, J. L., & Barsten, L. (2008). Truth at last: The untold story of James Earl Ray and the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr . Guilford, Conn: Lyons Press.
