Half of Americans suspect there’s a conspiracy around the assassination of MLK, a lot thinking the FBI was involved. We wanted to …
April 4 1968 was a day that changed the landscape forever. The life of the most influential voice of social justice was ended.
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His last speech has always given me chills. Its almost like he knew someone wanted to take him out and soon. Of course he knew his life was in danger, but the way he speaks in that speech sounds like he knew he wouldn’t live past the week. EDIT: Clearly he knew his life was in danger. What I am saying is that his speech sounds like he knew he would be shot within the next day or two. Obviously he didn’t, no one knows that they’ll be dead within the day. I am just saying its creepy with hindsight. FFS some of ya’ll are so mad about my opinions….
It’s crazy how many similarities MLK’s assassination has with JFK’s assassination, both random criminal lone gunman, who used a sniper at long range to take out the target. Both in the 1960’s. My guess is they were chosen and either threatened in some way (threatening to hurt family loved ones etc) or told that their family would be taken care of financially if they did so. RIP MLK & JFK
In France, there was a radio program in the 2000s, way before podcast existed called “Rendez-vous avec X” (meeting with X). X was a retired French intelligence officer whose identity was never disclosed. They talked about many historical figures, the underground world of spies, the secrets of States. I remember them discussing MLK and Edgar Hoover. Hoover was a terrifying man. He had so many ways to blackmail people, no president and no attorney generals dared to go against him. Hoover’s racism was a fact and his hatred towards MLK was also discussed in this radio program. When MLK stood against the Vietnam war, he posed himself against president Johnson which was considered as the last act of treason by Hoover, which made it a perfect reason for a conspiracy. But there was one interesting take from X that adds context to this assassination: KGB was interested in tearing American society apart. KGB had spies in MLK entourage. They had spread misinformation to tear apart the black community (Malcom X called MLK Uncle Tom). And of course working to discredit MLK within the white community was also part of their plan. Using right extremists to kill MLK and blaming the FBI would be a perfect work for the KGB. Of course that was his pure speculation, no proof.
you forgot to mention that mlk on his letter written from birmingham jail he expressed a grave disappointment toward the white moderate. I quote: “I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says, “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically feels that he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom”
I’m a 70 year old American white man, a Native of Iowa. In 1989 I was living in Nashville. I’ve been a Baha’i for 40 years. I went on bus to Memphis full of fellow Baha’is to march in the annual Martin Luther King Parade. It was a huge event, hundreds of buses and thousands of marchers. I got separated from my group and was walking around looking for them. I walked for an hour or so and suddenly heard the music of a marching band coming down an alley. I ran to the end of the alley and thrre was the parade, and hear came my group. Two Baha’is were leading the group carrying a huge banner promoting Racial Harmony. The banner holder nearest me recognized my name tag and waved to me to help carry the banner, which I did. A block later was a Network TV Camera. Friends across America told me later that they saw me on TV! It was an honor to march in this Parade remembering Dr. King. Years later I made a pilgrimage to Memphis and said prayers on the spot Dr. King was Murdered.
I think a lot of people in the comments are missing the point of the article. This is about the fact that, whether or not they were actually directly behind the person who pulled the trigger or not, we have actual proof that a significant branch of the US government has been directly involved in harrassing and threatening the life of a peaceful US citizen based on the fact that they disagreed with that citizen’s ideals. Whether they directly pulled the trigger or not they hold responsibility for, at the very least, not only not having done their duty of trying to stop it but actually encouraging it. That is a huge stain on our democratic system.
You missed a really interesting point in his final speech about being on the mountain top, but not being able to make it to the holy land, he was comparing himself to Moses, who led the Israelites from bondage and suffering out to the desert(and according to the bible) God told him that as a result of his sins he would see it, but die before they made it, and he died on Mt. Nebo in full view of the holy land. Its as if he new his life was soon to be cut short, but his movement would be successful in making progress for Black Americans, both of which he called correctly.
I don’t like how Johnny talked as if the only problem the FBI’s actions was that the USSR connection was unsubstantiated, this insinuates that if there was a connection to the USSR that all of the actions afterwards would be justified. Also the article seemed very revisionist in the way it portrayed the civil rights movement, from the way Johnny talked about it you would think that it only succeeded because of white people’s pity where at the time of his death MLK did not have the moral high ground (political climate of the time) the white population was polled to have a 66% unfavorable opinion of him. I mean for context Johnny cut out the most important part of MLK’s letter where he said that the largest stumbling block to the civil rights movement was not radicals like the KKK but the white moderates who prefers injustice to the tension created in the pursuit of justice.
Everyone commenting about MLK’s “disillusionment with the white moderate” in letters from the Birmingham jail is correct, but I also want to point out how incorrect Johnny is in saying that MLK was seen as being in the right during the Civil Rights Movement, around the 6 minute mark; Gallup polls clearly show that the general public had an unfavorable opinion of him. The last poll in his lifetime was 63% unfavorable. This article just doesn’t reflect the historical reality of the situation.
I am from the Uk and was 9 at the time of Kings assassination-King and his messages were very popular in the UK and King was also held in high esteem across the world. That’s why US government agencies saw him as a threat- they did everything they could to discredit him and cover it up. King was such a powerful force for good and he will live on forever.
The portion you showed where he gave his last speech gave me chills…he knew he was going to be murdered soon. You can see it on his face. He’s holding back tears. He’s terrified. Yet his words and steadfast demeanor showed strength in the end. Phew. I love America, but the more I learn about all we’ve done…it’s impossible to trust a single word that is uttered by our government. We are lost.
Disclosure to all – what Johnny and YouTubers alike do not tell you about services such as incogni whom sponsor segments about taking their fans off data broker lists is that these services will indeed send out a large list of emails for you, you then have to manually respond to almost every single one of them as 90% of companies say that they do not deal with legal data protection requests through third parties and require verification from the customer themselves. There’s 2 problems with this. The first being that you are now doing the job of incogni quite literally. The second being that now you are given the choice now of parting with more personal information, or ignoring it and having achieved nothing but giving your data to another company, incogni. As well as this, you are likely going to be communicating on the same email chain as the one Incogni and companies alike initiated with their request meaning that personal data required to verify you, should you choose to send it, will also make its way to incogni who will be CC’d into the email chain. They make themselves sound a whole lot better than they are, in reality they’re pretty useless.
Each blacked out block should have an alphanumeric code beside it – you can look those up in the declassification guide of the agency that created the document and see why specifically that section was exempted from release – it’s likely that in this context its identifying information about a person who provided information or enabled surveillance or detailed information about methods used for surveillance but you can always look it up and see which exemption was applied to get a broad idea of the content removed.
Great article Harris. I’m from Kenya but I enjoy listening to articles on American politics because they relate to a lot of politics in Africa, including assassinations. I would love to see you do more content on African politics as well, and how it relates to American politics; (not just how we were colonized) Good job though
Thank you for tackling in your recent articles large American conspiracies, and why people’s beliefs are justified. The argument that “Even if the FBI didn’t directly order the hit, they are guilty by lack of action to protect MLK’s life” is correct. The FBI had both surveillance capabilities and the interest in MLK that they should have known about any conspiracies to end his life (they even sent that letter). Great quality article the team did here
Martin Luther King Jr. inadvertently hindered the progress of Black America by emphasizing integration rather than concentrating on the development of the Black economy, educational institutions, healthcare facilities, and businesses. His approach has contributed to many challenges that Black Americans encounter today. In my youth, I viewed him as a hero, but as I’ve matured, I’ve come to see him as shortsighted and lacking in critical analysis.
Johnny, CIA, Harris after his extensive research he conviniently ignored the part of MLK’s letter where he talks about how hes disappointed by the white moderate and how the white moderate is the biggest obstacle for civil rights,then Johnny,CIA,Harris started telling us how MLK’s peaceful demostrations (without mentioning that there was Malcolm X who advocated for a more violent approach who also worked with MLK) made the white moderate feel bad and thats why change happened which is literally not true. The white moderate in the 60s gave no fucks about black people and didnt feel bad at all. This is the liberal version of conservatives white washing MLK by using his dream speech. Johnny’s conclusion is that Hoover bad, its just Hoover guys. The FBI were just following orders, its not that an entire institution deeply rooted in capitalism was opposing any emancipatory movement because it threatened the entire foundation of the system, its not that the American government with the white moderates and conservatives were strongly opposing those movements. Johnny’s historical revisionism is so messed up and its something he does in almost all his articles. He always pins it down to a handful of people being bad instead of the entire institution and system that props those people up and how they serve it.
This is crazy hearing about the media getting the tapes and not publishing them or anything. It took me back to when I was 9 and heard my friends uncle and grandpa talking about how they heard the tapes because his grandpa worked at New York times and that they didn’t release them publicly because they were wildly embellished. It’s crazy that hearing that back then didn’t mean much to me but now it means everything. It speaks volumes about the power corruption and power in general of the FBI.
Your observation of MLK, America’s perception of him, and the nuances of the civil rights movement are ahistorical and nothing less than revisionist history. You completely quoted MLK out of context in the letter you cited to suit your whitewashed narrative. That letter was written about MLK’s disillusionment with moderate, liberal white people, because they thought oppressed people should wait their turn to get the same rights as everyone else. MLK’s strategy of nonviolence was not winning over hearts and minds. At the time of his assassination he had a 75% disapproval rating in America. That means 3 in 4 Americans thought he was a bad person, so not exactly winning hearts and minds. And finally to the extent that MLK had any success in influencing civil rights reform, it was mostly because white America/ legislators were afraid that denying the peaceful protesters of their modest reforms would fuel the more radical elements within the movement like the Black Panthers and lead to armed resistance.
As a 22 year old International Student From India who’s living in the US. I Find it quite shocking to see how Dehumanized treatment was given to Black People in America Not so long ago, it’s literally 60s we’re talking about in this article. I though this level of racism might be this much prevalent only till early 20th century before WW2 . I Also find it shocking, the way everyone use to openly (and officially) Call Black People as “N*gros” . I mean that’s such a racist slur to use for them. I have rarely seen people of whole race being officially and openly called with a racist slur that was thrown at them during the colonial period.
At my young age in adolescence, I previously read “I Have A Dream” book by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as it interested me in a fact. In my school days in WPSD (Western Pennsylvanian School for the Deaf in Pittsburgh, PA>), I finally heard that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968 at first. Then all of the girls including me in the girl’s dormitory on 2 nd floor watched the TV News show about the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with the sign language interrupters on the duty. And then it really saddened me in heart breaking in reality. A few years, later, I found out that Mr. JC. Hoover, the FBI Director was a racist and antisemitic as he really hated the Afro-Americans, the deaf American citizens, Italian-Americans who got involved with Mafia families, and famous Nobel-Prize winning German-Jewish American-Albert Einstein, and the Jewish people in his real dark side of life. For 14 years in most of my college life, I have had been much experienced in the area of Washington, DC before my move out to be relocated in the area of Rochester, N.Y. on Sunday August 31, 1984. Still I have a best book-“I Have A Dream” at my home. Then I recently read several books about Black History, and famous & well-known Afro-Americans in our America including-“Forgotten Figures” in true story of the Afro-American women who were brilliant ‘human computers” at NASA in early years and others. Our Federal holiday is: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday –Observance Monday in Januray 15 th after the US President Ronald Regan signed on the bill in the White House in a fact.
Not a laughing matter but someone once said “They shot Martin & left Jesse Jackson standing right there. Martin had a dream, Jesse didn’t even go to sleep that night.” Honestly though towards the end of his life Martin said he wanted to say sorry to his people because he told them to be quiet in the times when he should’ve told them to Fight, be loud and never let anyone keep them in silence while they suffer.
Overall a good article, but I would have liked to see more time spent on reviewing the actual evidence and less on the lead up. What’s the strongest evidence for a conspiracy? Is there any evidence that the fbi wasn’t likely involved? What kind of evidence could come out in the future? Why did the King family win the civil case? I get that a civil trial doesn’t require the same standard of evidence as a criminal trial, but how strong was the evidence in that trial?
Im sick of the performative nature of Johnny‘s journalism, because he feigns making huge revelations about history and geopolitics with editing and production quality. He fundamentally whitewashed the legacy of MLK‘s teachings to provide a shallow, revisionist analysis that comforts the consciousness moderate liberals
I grew up in Memphis TN and I’ve met quite a few people who knew MLK personally and for some reason they all had the same things to say about him. That he was a wife beater, an adulterer and he would help his friends to sleep with the women that they liked. And tbh I believe it. But at the end of the day does it really matter? Does all the good things God did through him not count anymore because he was an evil human being just like the rest of us? King David in The Bible had a Man killed so he could take his wife, Moses was a Murderer, Noah was a drunkard, the apostle Paul was an Anti-Christian who threw people in prison and killed them for their faith. All of Man Kind is Evil but that does not take away from the good that God can do through us. MLK still played one of the largest roles in history for giving Black people rights and Freedom, and as far as the content of his character goes I think that’s what’s most important. With Everything else we can say let’s learn from the mistakes that he’s made, but honor Him and praise God by keeping his Dream Alive.
The way you left out the critique of the most hurtful liberal racism in MLKs letter is not only insulting to the entire civil rights movement, but also the very problematic racism of white liberals that MLK is describing in same letter.I am a long time fan of you, but this one is the most ignorant piece of historic inacuracy and I really thought, you would be better than this.
As I watch this I cannot but think of the oppressed peoples of Palestine and their fight against Zionazi’s. It’s honestly upsetting how we humans tend to repeat history without learning from it unless it affects our tribe. I’m British and the only reason public opinion is turning against Israel and the IDF is simply because finally it was our aid workers that were killed by the IDF recently. Only now we want to talk of doing better.
Imagine how many family members we indigneous black Americans lost during the civil rights movement. The worst part about it is that nobody was held accountable for these lynchings. We lost thousands and thousands of family members. This was not that long ago because I am 62 years old, and I remembered this just like it was yesterday. THIS IS WHY REPARATIONS SHOULD BE PAID TO INDIGENOUS BLACK AMERICANS IMMEDIATELY..!!!!!
I loved how Martin Luther King Protested – He only Protested during the Day and stated at night the Crazies at night – and Protests during the Daylight the public can see that they are Protesting Peacefully and if the Police forcefully stop the Protests the Media if honest will show that in articles and stories.
Hi Jonny Haris I have a request to make to you I love your content and k wait eagerly for your upcoming articles I am from india and india is struggling as our prime minister narendra Modi is trying to make india a DICTATORSHIP. I have request if In future you would consider marking article about the whole problem that india is going through. You have a worldwide viewer ship with would help to spread awareness around the world what is going on in India. I can include few detail. Narendra modi is from BJP party 1. Modi wants to make india a Hindu nation and he is targeting minorities especially Muslims by marking shameful and wrong comments since he came to power in 2014 2. Putting opposition leaders in jail and holding their funds 3. Controlling the investigation agencies like CBI And ED 4. Controlling all the media websites 5. Making Hindi vs Muslim comments 6. Selling government property to his rich friends 7. Electoral Bond scam There is much more he was also accused of right in the start called Gujarat Please if you see this comment help us spread awareness to the world what is happening in my beautiful country INDIA
I will never forget the day they shot him. It came across on the television. It was a terrible time. My mother was very upset about it. She knew immediately that the government shot him. Everyone has suspected this ever since then. People aren’t stupid. He was a large beacon of hope. We are a white upper middle class family but even to us MLK was a beacon of hope for a more fair and free society that included everyone. My mother was ahead of her time. She was completely for equality. She made sure that her children were introduced to and friendly towards black people.
No….he had never stayed in the Loraine Motel before. There was NOT a room named after him. The Loraine WAS a predominantly black residents motel (Stax Records people often used it), but MLK had never stayed there before. And the original reservation was for a downstairs room, but right before he arrived, co-conspirators made sure he was in that second floor room opening onto the balcony. Read books by William Pepper.
As a Black man today, I have noticed that when we discuss racism, we only think of its effects on the oppressed and not the oppressor. Of course, my people see the most severe effects of racism. However, it is not healthy for the oppressors and racist institutions that continue to prevail with a sense of superiority or color blindness. I encourage everybody to read King’s sermon on altruism. Additionally, I notice that some believe we live in a post-racist world because Barack Obama was elected president. I encourage these people to read King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail.
You missed the boat on MLK. First Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King’s name. “Martin Luther” Lutheran founder “King” = Christ. He wanted “brothers” and “sisters” a New Gospel reference by Christ who is my “brothers and sisters” MLK represented the oppressed not the blacks only. He wanted God’s Laws first and foremost and preached about it often as a devout Christian. He was a great man whom I wished was not murdered and lived to be a 103. God Bless Rev. King and his words that are with us today.
Very intriguing. For many years i have been studying humans (speech pattern, body language, Psyche and etc). Based on his speech pattern in that final speech he seemed to be very aware that he lived on a short timeline. Based on the fact that he was on that balcony also shows that even though they where out for his life, he did not know how.
Hi Johnny, hope you read this. I’m Italian, and there’s something I really cannot understand about my country, I was hoping a cool article could come out of this, considering your research skills. i swear, I don’t wanna sound braggy, it’s just the facts. Why do we excel so much? Don’t even consider the food, why is the lifestyle so much better? Why everything that was made in Italy is more appreciated abroad? Why, even if we are a small country with only 60 mil people, there’s always an italian name in an important and world changing project? Also I can garantee that houses are on the next level compared to some of the richest countries in the world. If you’ll consider doing the article I can show you some features of my house that here are normal, and you’ll be astounded.
Man I really hope you see this comment and can answer me I just wonder do you ever feel like your personal safety is something you should worry about because of the stuff that you are exposing I mean in no way am I threatening you I hope you realize I just wonder wouldn’t you be kind of scared I definitely would be You’re exposing the US government basically for things that I guess have been declassified but most of the country doesn’t even realize anyway regardless I hope you know I have an immense respect for you and a love for your content and your ability to make things super complicated sound a lot more simple you are an amazing journalist and you deserve all the praise in the world bro thank you for continuing to tell the truth even when it may be at a detriment to you
I will add that admitting you killed Fred hampton is not popular, but admitting that you killed Martin Luther King Jr., a man who has posthumously risen from a controversial (white americans were generally not fans as far as the early 70s) figure for change to a nigh on universally revered hero who brought an end to segregation nonviolently and morally, a man everyone learns is one of the greatest men to ever live in Elementary school, would be the end of the FBI. You can admit to killing Fred Hampton and some other Black Panthers most people have never heard of, but dear god if you don’t make sure that no document implicating your agency in the assassination of MLK ever leaks your agency will be dissolved in about 14 nanoseconds. I personally think that the FBI was involved, and also that they will never, EVER admit it, because if they do they will never recover, either after being dissolved or just completely losing any public goodwill.
“Dr. King’s policy was that nonviolence would achieve the gains for black people in the United States. His major assumption was that if you are nonviolent, if you suffer, your opponent will see your suffering and will be moved to change his heart. That’s very good. He only made one fallacious assumption: In order for nonviolence to work, your opponent must have a conscience. The United States has none.” – Stokely Carmichael
Great article! MLK seems to have been an amazing, smart, and spectacular individual despite anything that might come out against him in the future. He seemingly changed the course of human history and realized the importance of what he was doing despite the personal dangers he faced. By specifically using non-violent tactics, he and his followers definitively proved the ignorance of those who opposed the civil rights movement during his time.
God spoke to me in this a few ways…one, I been there, when you’re chosen and anointed by God Satan will try every trick in the book. Second you can’t out sin grace, and third we must be certain we don’t stray into a WORKS BASED attempt at salvation. Greatness does not equal salvation …salvation equals GREATNESS.
Just hear is last speech, it seemed to me that he actually knew that his he was going to die. When I saw that the first time, I wasn’t actually convinced when he said that he saw the glory of the coming of the Lord. But when I heard the speech again I saw that he knew that his death was near and he looked very emotional, that’s when I believed that he actually got divine revelation from the Lord.
13:39 Thank you Dr. King! never heard that speech before, but it rings so true. the very adults that always taught to lift you up by your own bootstraps somehow are the very same ones that would get tax breaks and tax subsidies or own huge amounts of land but somehow pay no taxes on it at all, or how walmart leaders brought a huge supercenter and distribution center into town in the early 1990s and have yet as far as i’m aware in 2024 to pay a dime in taxes as they keep getting 10, 20, 30 year tax breaks/waivers and everytime some of the taxes would need to be paid they construct an expansion renovate the facility or threaten to pack up and leave to keep their tax breaks. the gdp in usa is so high currently that the government could afford to give every person in the country roughly 75k a year man woman and child, or afford to give at least 150k a year to every working age man or women instead or since the us always has like 20-25% unemployment and theres a job shortage right now even though official unemployment numbers last i heard were hovering between 6-8% they could give every one who is actually working probably 200-300k a year since the actual work force is probably half or so of the working age population. but the people who really need the help and money don’t get it instead they can hardly afford to have a home over their heads adn food on the table if they even can, and have to watch as the people who put them down call them worthless and deny them any form of help or benefits get rich off their labor/efforts and dont have to pay any taxes at all or very minimal.
I sure do wish that RFK would have been elected president and had chosen MLK as his running mate and vice president. Just what kind of country we could have had. Its just sad to really think about what kind of history the UNITED STATES should have had. 😢😢😢 Oh and im a 65 year old white man saying this and proud as hell that i said it. R.I.P. Mr. King and R.I.P. Mr. Bobby kennedy.
We all know King wasn’t perfect he had flaws like the rest of us but damn he was the voice of the black community when they needed one the most. And his voice was loud and it was clear. He made sure he was heard. It’s a damn travesty that man got assassinated. Think of what he could have accomplished if he had lived. But the powers at be couldn’t allow him to tear down the wall and destroy the racist America. I have the upmost respect for this man and I always will.
I’ve read 2 books written by people who were apart of mlks movement and were government officials that trained in Moscow and were apart of the American communist party. They were killed of course, but they spoke out against the civil rights movement bc it WAS infiltrated by communists. During the time, mlks movement wasn’t very popular in the African American community bc they had their OWN schools, their OWN businesses, they were progressing more than the whites actually. They were naturally integrating with eachother. Blacks and whites were friends and shopped at each others businesses. Most people were FOR integration, but desegregation was forced. So it made the whites feel forced and the blacks were demoralized as a result. If you watch documentaries about communism in other countries they called the opposition the same things they do even now! Racists, extremists, oppressors! We ended up implimenting all of these things for the black communities and it’s just led to poverty. It’s f*cked up. Also, the communists infiltrated black churches first. MLK was SELECTED bc he was the son of a preacher and the black community were mostly Christian’s so they listened. Later on MLK realized what he had done, but of course right before he died. However, the government shouldn’t be able to take out any citizen of the United states. If we vote in socialist programs, that’s what we vote for. “Equity” is equal OUTCOME. That’s what many leaders here promote now and it’s scary. Malcolm X had some very good points about the civil rights movement.
Honestly, not the FBI’s best work. They should’ve done it a lot sooner and forgone the blackmail part of the plan. I don’t really understand the point of threatening him with an ultimatum that would ultimately result in his death either by his own hand or by theirs. In that case, why even give him the option? Also, they didn’t take into consideration the response to his death, which, and this could be manipulated by hindsight, should’ve been obvious to them. People like him tend not to go quietly and there always needs to be a plan for dealing with the aftermath of their removal. All in all, I’d give this a 5/10.
US Supreme Court Decision – “All codes, rules, and regulation are for government authorities only, not human/creation in accordance with God’s laws. All codes, rules, and regulation are unconstitutional and lacking due process…” Rodriques v. Ray Donavan (U.S. Department of Labor) 769 F. 2d 1344, 1348.