Meanwhile, in Memphis, the Invaders faced a leadership vacuum (Cabbage was imprisoned for draft evasion) and a police crackdown. Witness to Martin Luther King assassination speaks out for first time, Martin Luther King Jr.: His life in black and white. Transcripts, Proceedings and Documents on the 1999 Martin Luther King Jr. Id have been better off if theyd flown me down the next day.. She was distraught and discombobulated an hour away from a fatal stroke. In particular, the HSCA focused on an alleged $50,000 bounty on King's life offered in St. Louis. Ray's skill with a rifle is dubious, and while he did commit armed robbery he had never harmed anyone previously during his criminal endeavors. Martin Luther King Jr. assassination conspiracy theories And that really shut him up.". This story is about. After Kings murder, he didnt like to play nightclubs. Some houses were so ramshackle they didnt look they belonged in a city, much less one of the states largest. A.D. King and Lukey Ward, each married with children, broke off their affair when King was called to Atlanta after his brother's deathto take his pulpit. In 1985, heading back to Memphis for her fathers funeral, she suffered massive head injuries when her car was crushed by a jackknifing 18-wheeler. In 1964, he became the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. At one point, she was tasked with delivering hamburgers to him and other civil rights leaders who used the motel room as a de facto headquarters. And crucifixion, as defined by the Roman Empire 2,000 years earlier, is a public event. Many Americans remember where they were when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel. Assassination Conspiracy Trial, available for download in PDF format. He was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. at St. Joseph Hospital. This, in microcosm, is how his death changed it and how violence rends the fabric of history. The rifle shot was never proven to have come from the bathroom window, and may have come from the bushy area on the ground below. They include Clara Ester and a fellow student,Mary Hunt, whom she hasgiven a lift in her fathers white Pontiac Tempest. Over the course of the trial seventy witnesses testified. Department of Justice 2000 Report regarding Loyd Jowers and Donald Wilson allegations. Each noon theyd meet at a church on the outskirts of downtown and march to Main Street. 306, and walks onto the second-floor balcony. She has come to understand that she was a witness, and that her best testimony was in action rather than word. The assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the opening acts which plunged 1968 into a year of turmoil. The damage to Dr. King's clothing, when tested microscopically This time, they had caused it. His plan for a mass march on Washington to dramatize the plight of poor people of all races poses such challenges that it was, until recently, opposed even by his own staff. He saysthat years later, when he insisted that he saw a man in the bushes and expressed skepticism about the official explanation, he moved from being a reporter to, in some eyes, "a conspiracy nut. Updated January 10, 2022 When Martin Luther King died at Memphis' Lorraine Motel on April 4, 1968, America changed forever. Withers had been at his Beale Street studio when he heard King was shot. After four weeks of testimony and over 70 witnesses in a civil trial in Memphis, Tennessee, twelve jurors reached a unanimous verdict on December 8, 1999 after . The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306 (Short 2008) - IMDb |Press Room MLK/Assassination - Wikispooks "Pow! This week marks 50 years since of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and those who closest to the tragedy are recalling the terrible day. Is that your verdict?" For instance, Ray purchased a Winchester rifle and had it equipped with a scope, and then almost immediately called back and exchanged the rifle the following day for a Remington .30-06, telling the salesman that his "brother" had told him the Winchester was unsuitable. When she went to her room, she wrote in her memoir, I Shared the Dream, King followed as they both knew he would. But she was frustrated by the stalemate. Martin Luther King Jr. in July, 1964 Conspiracy theories about the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., a prominent leader of the civil rights movement, relate to different accounts of the incident that took place on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. The Rev. Regarding the assassination itself, the HSCA interviewed Ray extensively, along with his brothers and many witnesses and officials. In addition to the assassination that shocked the entire nation, Ford also lost one of her beloved bosses, Loree Bailey: She suffered a stroke on the same day and died days later. Most are not. He was 64. Then Ester heard the shot. Earlier attempts at union organizing and collective bargaining had been rebuffed by the city. Witnesses to Martin Luther King Jr.'s Assassination Recall His Death Billy Kyles, aminister, was at the Lorraine to take King and his entourage to his house for dinner. Kings aides had vowed the Poor Peoples March would proceed. William Pepper Reveals Who Really Killed MLK - Corbett Report His eyes are open, as if hes looking to heaven. Mary Hunt died of cancer in 1992, a few days before she hadbeen scheduled to speak in public for the first time about what it was like to be at the Lorraine. See for instance the first several pages of the March 9, 1977 transcript. Ford opened up on "Today" for the first time in decades on the eve of the 50th anniversary of King's assassination to describe what she witnessed and how her life was forever changed. The House Select Committee on Assassinations conducted investigations into the murders of both President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In February 2021 Black History Month in the United States a history meme circulated on social media platforms containing the assertion that Martin Luther King, Jr.'s mother, like her son, was assassinated:. As a first-grader shed been one of the Memphis 13,"the first students to integrate the public schools. Claras primary exposure to white people came at a Methodist Church-run community center where her mother cooked and cleaned. MLK plans Montgomery bus boycott in rare footage shows - NBC News There was no eyewitness to the shooting, and there are credibility problems with the sole witness to Ray's allegedly fleeing the roominghouse bathroom from which he is said to have fired the rifle. Through Rev. Dr. William Pepper's remarkable 40 year investigation into the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. is summarized in his equally remarkable book, " The Plot to Kill King: The Truth Behind the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr ." U.S. newspapers andwebsites didn't carryhis obituary. It is high time for an MLK Records Act along the lines of the law which forced declassification of the JFK files in the 1990s. But King said he had to prove he could still lead a non-violent march. Here, through a pane of glass, visitors can see the room where Martin Luther King last laid his weary head. Her husband Walter hung a wreath on the door of Room 306 it would go down in history as the most famous motel room in the world,"he said and never rented it out again. Fifty years later, Mary Ellen Ford still gets choked up thinking about the day the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in the hotel where she was working. "He said, Yeah, I was a big deal. ", After the Lorraine, he didnt ride the train"of celebrity journalism, Jacob says. Use the MLK Video page as a gateway to documentaries, archival footage, interviews, and video stories about Martin Luther King Jr. and his assassination. I was trying to live my life as a normal person whod not witnessed an assassination., There was doubt Were we worshiping the right God? and despair: Our attitude was, You have taken our leader. If we get another one, you can take him, too.. By definition, conspiracy theories give hypothesis without supplying actual evidence, whereas a conspiracy is a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful. ", 5 Alleged Hells Angels Arrested in Connection to Assault and Murder at Chris Stapleton Concert: Reports, Jay Leno Undergoing Treatment in Hyperbaric Chamber for Severe Burns Sustained in Car Fire, Federal Investigation Says Caterpillar Employee Fell to Death in Molten Iron in Freak Accident, Inside Edition Tests What3Words, a New App That Could One Day Save Your Life, Body Found in Search for Oklahoma Father Who Went Missing While in Texas for Sons Liver Transplant. In the strike, and at the Lorraine, she hadlearned something about herself. Chapter 1. In 1984, he helped establish the U.S. Institute for Peace, a federal agency that promotes conflict resolution. DwaniaKyles recoiled from it. She and Mary Hunt run up the stairs. MLK assassination "anomalies" - John de Nugent The stories of those who were at the Lorraine that day offer some answers. Ray's attorney William Pepper pursued this allegation, and the King family sued Jowers in a wrongful death lawsuit. IE 11 is not supported. Assassination Conspiracy Trial, Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project at Stanford University, Martin Luther King Assassination on Real History Archives. MLK Assassination "witnesses" point to the assassin ALL were pointing in the Wrong Direction Who misdirected them? 2022 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC. He always denied that King saw non-violence as a tactic to use against your enemy." Witnesses forever changed by MLK's final days - Mail Online The evening of April 4 sticks out in her mind for two tragic reasons. . In addition to that, in 1999, a mixed-race jury came to a unanimous verdict. Use double-quotes to enclose phrases (consecutive words), e.g. Her housekeeping cart is in the foreground of the photo. Except for a shoulder,a penny loafer and some white bobby socks, you cant see Clara Ester in Louws famous photo of the Lorraine balcony. Transcript and audio of MLK speeches. She happily grew up in what shed come to think of as our little black world. She went to black schools, worshiped at a black church, shopped at black stores and went to the city zoo on the one day of the week when blacks (and, implicitly, not whites) were allowed. The Methodist Womens board was so impressed with her analysis that it offered her the job of doing so. The Dixie Mafia's Plot to Kill Martin Luther King Jr., by Stuart Wexler and Larry Hancock. In 2015, the year before she died at 92, Davis wrote that King told her at the Lorraine that sometimes the load of being a leader gets almost too heavy to bear. The problem here is that the FBI, which conducted much of the initial investigations, was more interested in finding and then convicting Ray than in finding accomplices. King was visiting Memphis at the time to address a strike by the citys sanitation workers. This story is about what it was like to witness the death of Martin Luther King at the Lorraine Motel. In a minute, on a motel balcony, America's greatest civil rights leader and most famous advocate of non-violence will be shot to death. "Standing, sitting on the brick wall, waiting to get a glimpse of Dr. King," she said of the onlookers. Will the Real James Earl Ray/Ramon George Sneyd Please Stand Up? Three witnesses took the stand and corroborated Liberto's involvement. You can kill the dreamer, Scripture says, but you can never take away the dream. Lawson and his fellow ministers invited King to come to Memphis to support the strike. In time, Kings followers will come to understand his death as a crucifixion. Type one or more words into a search box and hit Enter or click the Search button. He preferred churches." Those few files which mistakenly leaked out with the JFK files included the startlingly open discussion of Ray's aliases quoted above and copies of King "surveillance take" which made it into the hands of the CIA's JMWAVE station. 43. Mary Ferrell Foundation. Fifty years later, Clara Ester is among those who understand Kings death as a crucifixion. She was not the love of his life, nor he of hers. Andrew Young became a congressman, a mayor and an ambassador. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by a conspiracy that included agencies of his own government. Mary Ellen Ford returns to the Lorraine Motel, 50 years later. These include the famous 1963 "I have a dream speech," and the speech he gave the evening before his murder. She thought people were shooting off firecrackers. Clara was furious; they should be looking for whoever shot King, not quizzing them. Earlier, acivic group hadbought it, planningfor what becamein 1991the National Civil Rights Museum. Memphis police officers found the bundle to contain a .30-06 rifle, ammunition, a pair of binoculars, and other items. The Assassinations of Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy in the Kyles was on the balcony, walking toward the staircase. ", Kings affairs with Davis (and others) may make him seem more human. Without this information, the truth about King's assassination would have been buried and lost to history. She always bounced back, finding meaning in her work and strength in her faith. She is seen in white, her right arm folded across her waist as other workers wait anxiously for an ambulance to arrive. Was an eye witness to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. assassination But a year later, he moved back to Africa, where few people realized hed shot the Lorraine photo. His material reads much like investigative reports . As Ray's brother John told the St. Louis Dispatch following James' arrest: "If my brother did kill King he did it for a lot of money - he never did anything if it wasn't for money.". The iconic photo captured just moments after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Motel on April 4, 1968. You are human beings. Kamala Harris Appears To Endorse MLK Assassination Conspiracy Theory For one thing, it was hard for her to talk about it; even today, she chokes up. Whether this is the case or not, it is clear that evidence of conspiracy has not always been pursued with vigor, and in some cases the term "coverup" is merited. She could have done much better for herself materially, says her older brother Ronald, who himself became head of personnel at a major railroad. Jesse Jackson ran for president. 'This was like a war': Witnesses remember day MLK was shot Some young men broke storefront windows; police responded, sometimes indiscriminately, with clubs and pepper spray. Additionally, in the wake of Jowers' 1993 Prime Time Liveappearance . Yet the face that was so troubled after the March 28 march looked at peace on the balcony. The Rev. When he heard a shot, Laue rushed from his room to Kings side with a towel and a blanket. Dr. Read more about the people who were witnesses. The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the most prominent leader of the American civil rights movement, happened on April 4, 1968, as he stood on the second floor balcony of the Lorraine. Ford caught glimpses of King as he came and went from the motel, and on one occasion even delivered food a tray of hamburgers to him and other civil rights leaders who gathered with him in his room. Several nights she hasborrowed her fathers car to drive the militants on missions to try to torch white-owned commercial buildingsand pressure city officials to settle. One day they visited an old blind woman in a public housing project. And he gave us that dream of a better world where we could live in harmony. He saidthe Memphis sanitation workers strike, which King was in town to support, could revive the civil rights movement by recapturing the spirit of Montgomery and Selma. Authorities at first had little to go on. Clara, a junior at LeMoyne, worked afternoons in the strike office, attended rallies and marches, and organized students at other colleges and high schools to join the boycott. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Assassination Witness Talks To - YouTube She felt the pain of other people, and wanted needed to do what she could to alleviate it. Schrade died at 97 on November 9th. The newspaper published his photo of Clara with James Orange (although the FBI file did not explain who she was, why she was there or spell her last name correctly). Her father continued to dwell onhis presencewhen King was shot. He died four days later. James Earl Ray was Innocent of the Assassination of Martin Luther King But he did not condemn her, or tell her what to do. Some writers have interpreted the evidence as a sophisticated operation which brought Ray into an assassination plot and then left him holding the bag at the scene of King's murder. Martin Luther King assassination witness talks to Lester Holt 03:05. James Lawson, told them: "At the heart of racism is the idea that a man is not a man, that a person is not a person. In 1963, he was Time magazine's man of the year. Under that nations apartheid system, he was classified as coloured" mixed white and black and charged withhaving (consensual) sex with a white woman. He is the driver behind Black Lives Matter, womens rights, gay rights. The year 2018 marks the 50 year anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But Clara was angry: with her hometown, which had allowed King to be murdered and let his murderer escape, and with white people. But this time, when the city refused to negotiate, the workers walked out. She became close to two single white women, Methodist deaconesses (lay ministers), who sometimes took her on visits to the infirm and impoverished. Loyd Jowers, the owner of Jim's Grill located on the ground floor of the building which contained the roominghouse, confessed to involvement in the King assassination on ABC Prime Time Live in 1993. She fought for causes ranging from creation of a state King holiday to integration of the Azalea Trail Maids,a group of Mobile high school seniors who wear antebellum style dresses and serve as city ambassadors. Recent scholarship has focused attention on the possible role of radical white supremacist terrorists in the King Assassination; see for example a 2013 article by Charles Faulkner entitled Murdering Civil Rights. Jowers & # x27 ; s assassination would have been buried and lost to.. 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