I don’t automatically assume they did. If I did, I’d bet more than my yearly salary. I have a strong suspicion…and as many criminals as you deal with, I’m surprised you don’t. The FBI was clearly willing to break the law with Dr. King by wiretapping him and blackmailing him. They had/have no actual respect for the law, clearly. Do you really not view that as tainting their credibility?
And it would depend on the documents as to whether or not my mind would change.
It would be nice if the FBI losing credibility meant someone else gained some, but it just ain’t so.
There are enough significant questions about who assisted, backed and possibly encouraged JER that I would be in no way surprised to find that there are connections to US government agencies or individuals. MLK was seen as a major threat to national stability and government policy, and while there is no evidence, I don’t see it as impossible that FBI or other elements took it on themselves to “fix” the problem.
Since everyone promptly forgot about King and his efforts had no lasting effect, it was clearly a successful assassination no matter who carried it out. :rolleyes:
Snopes says it all, Jowers is basically made rich because he LOST, he stood to GAIN
by failing to win the case.
So that means the criminals at the FBI are automatically innocent? OK then. Whatever you need to believe. 
This is all I’m saying. Even if innocent, the FBI’s blatant disregard for the law re: Dr. King destroys any presumption of innocence on their part. They broke the law.
And I agree, killing Dr. King was like killing Obi Wan…
No, because Bob Seger’s going to Katmandu. . .
The trial appears to have been staged for propaganda purposes. William Pepper, the King family lawyer (who bizarrely enough also represented James Ray) made statements that the government had worked with Loyd Jowers to kill Reverend King. But he filed a lawsuit only against Jowers and not against the government. So the government, which had not officially been accused, did not present any defense.
The jury found that there was reasonable evidence that Jowers had been involved in King’s murder and pronounced him guilty. Pepper and the King family have claimed that this verdict also proves the government is guilty.
Dr. King came out vociferously against the Vietnam War.
Given his tremendous influence among the African-American community, that alone was reason enough to have him killed.
Your responses to just about any thread are incredibly predictable.
Ha!
…Space aliens took the form of humans and carried out the assassination.
King also pissed off a lot of racists. Why is it implausible that one of them killed him?
No. Read my many postings in the JFK threads… I am the last to take any kind of CT tack. But unlike Oswald, there are unanswered questions about Ray that he remained stubbornly mute on for the rest of his imprisoned life. It is almost inconceivable that he did the deed without help and support. Okay, so it was some other white redneck townies who pooled some money and he drew the short straw.
But given the level of verified, documented FBI shenanigans against the “counterculture” in that era, I would be utterly unsurprised to find a rogue - or maybe not so rogue - government agent or connection to his supporters. I would say it’s pretty clear we’ll never know, since he never talked and nothing has come to light. But unlike LHO, he was CLEARLY not working solo.
I’m on board with you in the JFK threads, and I am well acquainted with FBI Cointelpro during the 1960’s, so I am sincere when I ask for information* on this issue. I actually read William Pepper’s An Act of State, and it is as convincing as a one-sided argument can be expected to be. But I am also leery of conspiracy theorizing, so I am pretty skeptical of finding guilt by association when no evidence exists. What is the evidence?
*Dare I say, “Cite”?
King was staying in a hotel he regularly stayed in, in a specific room he was known to regularly stay in, directly across the street from where Ray lived. He bought the rifle that fired the fatal shot himself and it was a matter of public record that King would be in town on that day and time. What precisely about the assassination is “inconceivable” that Ray could have pulled off on his own?
While I agree with the rest of your post, it’s a little bit charitable to say that Ray “lived” across the street from the motel. Rather, he rented a room at a cheap motel specifically so he would be across the street from King (even rejecting the first room shown, which was bigger, but which didn’t provide a view of the motel).
My personal opinion is that Ray killed Reverend King. But I don’t think he acted completely alone. I don’t think there was a government conspiracy but I think Ray got help from members of his family and perhaps some friends. Covering for them is the reason Ray wouldn’t talk. Later, when some people wanted to blame the government for the murder and claim Ray had been set up, Ray was more than happy to go along with this story and proclaim his innocence.
No one in Guilder knew what he had done, and no one in Florin could have gotten there so fast. 
I am not as familar with the King assassination as I am with JFK. However, my recollection is that Ray was a rather ordinary, moderately impoverished individual who suddenly had a bunch of new stuff - a car (a Mustang?), a rifle, clothes, suitcases etc. that were beyond his apparent means. Maybe I’m operating from old data, but my impression was that he had everything but pay stubs from… someone helpful.
I am not in any way disputing that JER was the sole killer and that he did it. But whether he was as solo in motivation, planning and support as Oswald… I think that can be questioned. It’s very easy to assume fellow racists, from barflies up to local government, inspired and egged him on, and maybe contributed to the effort - and, IMVHO, it’s not a hard stretch from that to someone in federal shoes who promised help, a getaway, something.
No cites. No CTs. No particular need to prove anything beyond what’s already known… but I think we could be surprised with a deathbed or posthumous revelation sometime in the next decade or two.
And after swallowing that possibility, it wouldn’t be hard to choke down the proposition that Richard Nixon financed the assassination to keep King from influencing the 1968 presidential election.
I’ve always wondered why people have a fascination with deathbed confessions/conversions, taking them (or at least, fables about them) as gospel truth.
Examples: Darwin allegedly converting to Christianity on his deathbed, Pasteur renouncing his germ theory (both of these tales have been debunked as fiction).
It’s also possible that his criminal activity provided him with the cash he needed (specifically, bank robberies)
Cite: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/31/mlk.ray.money/index.html