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40 Years Ago Today: The Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. [VIDEO]

Posted by Adam Howard, AlterNet at 4:45 AM on April 4, 2008.


On April 4th 1968, a brilliant and sincere prophet of progressivism was cut down at the age of 39.
40th Anniversary of Dr King's Death

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Unfortunately this will be a year of often tragic anniversaries. The election of Richard Nixon to his first term in office. The brutal police riots at the Chicago Democratic convention. And worst of all, the assassinations of two of the brightest lights in the history of the American progressive movement: Robert Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

I wrote a piece earlier this year about what Dr. King has meant to me over the years as a young African American who didn't have the privilege to witness his struggle firsthand but was the beneficiary of its results throughout my life. My parents were not so lucky. My father, in particular, grew up in rural Georgia and told me the stories of the separate accommodations for blacks and whites that he had to endure. He marched with King and has much more visceral memories of the man than I can ever have and I envy that. I could only watch speeches on a TV or computer screen. But what speeches they were! I was moved to tears just this morning assembling the video to your right.

It's classic footage from the groundbreaking 1980s documentary series Eyes on the Prize, which every American should be required to see. This footage covers his iconic final speech, his murder and finally his touching funeral. Who knows what trajectory our politics and our nation might have had, should he have lived to see 40, 50, 60 or 70. All I know if that we all need to start really listening to this man's words, because we need them now more than ever.

Digg!

Adam Howard is the editor of PEEK.


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William Pepper's book "Orders to Kill" exposes the truth
Posted by: joeunix on Apr 4, 2008 7:36 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
King was murdered by a man named Loyd Jowers, not James Earl Ray.

Essentially a contract was taken out on King's life. The conspiracy to kill Reverend King was carried out by super secret government agents--FBI, US military and IDA--organized crime (the Mob) and local Memphis law enforcement officials.

I purchased "Orders to Kill' back in 1995 when the book was still available in hardback. It was published by Carroll & Graf, ISBN 0-7867-0253-2.

If you'd like to read "Orders to Kill", you can find it at Amazon, price $49.99.

I highly recommend the book; it's a great read and very informative.

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Oh Good
Posted by: donl51 on Apr 4, 2008 8:01 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
another sack of shit ,lies about a man who supposedly killed yet another great man, our Gov.didn't want speaking or trying to make a difference in this country, John was trying to make a change, ''blam'' scapegoat provided, then Martin,w/provided scapegoat ,and Robert, no wonder our stongest are so unwilling to speak up , It's ''blam'' followed by scapegoat,,,we're really good at that too ,do it all around the world!...at what price..freedom???

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The secret goverment, alleged "lone nuts" and cover-up using "patsies".
Posted by: joeunix on Apr 4, 2008 9:08 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
William Pepper was James Earl Ray's defense attorney.

This is a tragic story because James Earl Ray was setup as a patsy by the secret government forces and the mob to "take the fall" for a crime he did not commit.

Apparently when our secret government wishes to eliminate an enemy they use patsies in order to cover the crimes committed by the secret government, while blaming an innocent person for their crimes.

Lee Harvey Oswald, as he stated shortly before he was murdered by Jack Ruby, was clearly a patsy.

Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme is clearly a patsy.

Sirhan Sirhan was not responsible for the death of Robert F. Kennedy as the following video proves.

Mark David Chapman, John Lennon's alleged murderer also appears to be a patsy

I think it's quite clear that the secret government always uses "lone nuts" to cover up their crimes against the American people.

As a rule of thumb, one should ALWAYS be skeptical in any instance where a marginal psychotic or "lone nut" is blamed for a high crime. This is always an indication of the hidden hand of the secret government and a cover-up to protect those who are really responsible for the crime.

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» Yes, and no Posted by: joeunix
Why...
Posted by: Nora on Apr 4, 2008 9:40 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Why do we kill the lovers of the people? When will we stop? Certainly the interests of the powerful and greedy are served by their deaths, deaths seemingly brought about by some nobody with delusions. These losses are incalculable to us, the people Martin Luther King loved.

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» RE: Why... Posted by: nochicagoboys
Timothy McVeigh, white supremacist and FBI informant.
Posted by: joeunix on Apr 4, 2008 11:20 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Convicted Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Lynn Nichols alleges that the bombing plot was actually under the supervision of top FBI officials.

Nichols affidavit charges that Timothy McVeigh, who was executed for his role in the bombing, was actually working under Larry Potts, the controversial FBI official who was forced to resign under a cloud for his roles in two other major FBI scandals: the deadly FBI assaults on Ruby Ridge in 1992 and Waco in 1993.

Andreas Strassmeir, a German national who was in the United States illegally and was serving as chief of security at the white separatist compound known as "Elohim City," in eastern Oklahoma. McVeigh's phone records indicate that he called the compound on the same day that he called the Ryder truck agency to rent the vehicle used for the truck bomb.

According to FBI's documents, the witness at Elohim City who took the call said McVeigh was calling for Strassmeir. Elohim City was well-known at the time as a hideout for the notorious Aryan Republican Army bank robbers, several of whom have turned out to be FBI informants.

Oklahoma City police and fire department officials in the days after the bombing, Firehouse Magazine--a trade journal for firefighters--quoted officials who said "four bomb scares" were eventually reported: 10 a.m., 10:22 a.m., 10:45 a.m., and 1:51 p.m., all on April 19, the day of the bombing.

Was Larry Potts "controlling" Strassmeir, McVeigh, and other OKC bombing suspects, who were listed in the original federal indictment as "others unknown"?

Obviously, McVeigh's swift execution following his conviction indicates that he did not act alone and was in fact eliminated to protect his "controllers" and, ultimately, the secret government who masterminded this atrocity.

It's my opinion, that the Okalahoma City bombing was intended to be falsely attributed to "Arab terrorists" in an effort to "kick start" "The War on Terror", which would be used to justify an eventual military assault on Islam.

The secret government's plot, however, was foiled when Oklahoma State Trooper, Charles J. Hanger, arrested McVeigh on April 19, 1995.

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1999 civil jury finds government conspiracy involved in assassionation of Dr.King
Posted by: LeftWright on Apr 4, 2008 11:39 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Read An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King by Dr. William F. Pepper for the full account.

From Amazon's website:

Martin Luther King, Jr. was the most powerful and eloquent champion of the poor and oppressed in US history, and at the height of his fame in the mid-sixties seemed to offer the real possibility of a new and radical beginning for liberal politics in the USA. In 1968, he was assassinated; the movement for social and economic change has never recovered.

The conviction of James Earl Ray for his murder has never looked even remotely safe, and when William Pepper began to investigate the case it was the start of a twenty-five year campaign for justice. At a civil trial in 1999, supported by the King family, seventy witnesses under oath set out the details of the conspiracy Pepper had unearthed: the jury took just one hour to find that Ray was not responsible for the assassination, that a wide-ranging conspiracy existed, and that government agents were involved.

An Act of State lays out the extraordinary facts of the King story—of the huge groundswell of optimism engendered by his charismatic radicalism, of how plans for his execution were laid at the very heart of government and the military, of the disinformation and media cover-ups that followed every attempt to search out the truth. As shocking as it is tragic, An Act of State remains the most compelling and authoritative account of how King's challenge to the US establishment led inexorably to his murder.


About the Author
William F. Pepper was a young journalist just back from Vietnam when he first met Martin Luther King, Jr, and his photographs and first-hand accounts of his experiences prompted King's unflinching opposition to the war. His investigations of King's assassination included extensive interviews with James Earl Ray. Pepper is an English barrister and an American lawyer, who convenes a seminar on International Human Rights at Oxford University and maintains practices in the US and the UK. He is the author of three other books and numerous articles.


Yes, brothers and sisters, there are government conspiracies as this jury found in a Memphis court of law in 1999.

It's way past time for a real investigation into the events of 9/11/01.

The truth shall set us free. Love is the only way forward.

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Dr. King would be ashamed of these Demcorats today, ashamed..!
Posted by: TJ-stars4peace on Apr 4, 2008 8:10 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Those of us who were alive and involved in those years remember Dr. King in a very special way not as some iconic remote figure of history but a real man a person we saw almost daily and who spoke for us all after his condemnation of the senseless war in Vietnam as well as the Civil Rights struggle which became all of our struggle..!

1968 was one of the worst years in American history and we know now that Robert Kennedy was shot from behind behind the ear from a distance less than 1 1/2 inches away as all those of the Los Angeles coroners office who have examined the forensics have and can confirm..

Dr. King and RFK were taken from us by some of those same ghouls criminals and ignorant greed ridden swine who are destroying our nation today..

Only a fool believes that J.Edgar Hoover was not largely behind these murders if not the main bad actor then the main facilitator of these murders of Dr. King and RFK who I worked for in his campaign to be elected president..

Also it makes me sick to hear as I did disgustingly so many times today to here Barack Obama compared or DR. King, or asked if Obama who hasn't got the guts to say "anything" compared to a man who said Everything, and knew as Malcom X told him that he and Malcolm would both die for it and then went on to speak the truth knowing they would die for the truth..as Dr. King showed a real sense of in his last speech in Memphis prior to his assassination..!

If only the fools of the world such as the Palestinians and others would take heed and learn the lesson Dr. King, Gandhi and Christ all died to teach us..

That there is strength in weakness and that all tyrants will fall as they do always fall when confronted not with arms and hatred but the Truth..!

Remember if Dr. King where alive today it is most likely he would follow and support Single Payer Health Care, which none of these weak sickening cowardly candidates will do today and fight for the AMERICAN Workers and Poor and Fight the corrupt Oil Corporations and for those losing their homes as millions are about to..millions and most likely be ashamed of how weak and compromised these Democratic Candidates are and have become 40 after his death and sacrifice for us all..

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