Sometimes I meet friendly people who, upon noticing the controversial subject matter of Tragedy of Kings, begin to eye me sideways, which makes me feel like I should explain why I wrote about the Martin Luther King Assassination.
When I visited the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, I learned of Loyd Jowers, whose allegations prompted the 1999 civil trial that found government agencies guilty of conspiring to assassinate Martin Luther King. I had never heard of that so I looked into it further. My foray spiraled into years of research. When I read the transcript of King v. Jowers, I felt enlightened, angry, and frustrated. The details of that trial are revealing, yet scarcely known. Few King scholars have given it attention, which seemed negligent to me. I wanted to create awareness and learn about the forces that oppose human rights.
One of my major concerns in writing Tragedy of Kings was to be honest. I am well aware of how damaging unfounded conspiracy theories can be. When Alex Jones asserted that the Sandy Hook shooting was a false flag, his followers disregarded the lives of innocent children. False claims about a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election resulted in the deaths of four people, countless more death threats, and damaging dissent. Fantasies that led people to snub protective masks exacerbated the Covid-19 pandemic and caused hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths.
Then again, some conspiracies that seem far-fetched actually occurred. Among the many strange and nefarious operations conducted by the CIA, the United States intelligence agency did dose citizens with LSD to study its effects (MK-ULTRA). During at least two decades following 1953, the CIA spied on journalists and paid others to promote propaganda through media outlets including The New York Times, CBS, and Time Inc.
Various government agencies continue to collaborate with tech companies to conduct surveillance on innocent civilians and suspected criminals. The propaganda arm of the government today operates through at least twenty federal agencies, whose budget to “persuade” citizens with “advertising” and “public relations” is available in a report published by the Government Accountability Office.
Such widespread and obvious propaganda is inevitably discovered by citizens, who consequently learn to distrust the government. It occurs to me that if citizens were frequently told the truth, they would be more likely to believe government agencies when they try to end a pandemic with vaccines.
Martin Luther King Assassination
In my view, the ability to understand complex issues requires analyzing events from multiple angles. Fear, or the quest for power, or independence, may cause people to commit evil, while those who have committed evil can atone. The FBI hounded Dr. King. They harassed him and even tried to convince him to commit suicide. Although there may be similarities between today’s FBI and that of the 1960s, there are obviously many differences as well, in terms of operations and personnel.
The human condition includes the capacity for kindness, integrity, ignorance, and greed. Which attributes dominate depends on what we are taught. I’m not going to demonize any group of people, whether they be government employees or Harry Potter enthusiasts. That would be discrimination. The ethics of each individual should be determined by each individual’s actions.
Despite the propaganda we are fed, many government employees tell the truth and operate with integrity. So, when the Department of Defense attempted to debunk claims that government agencies were involved in shooting Dr. King, I gave it serious consideration. I spent a lot of time reading opposing views to get as close as possible to the truth about the Martin Luther King Assassination. Even so, a lot of information is unavailable, and what is available can be challenging to interpret.
However, there is enough information to indicate a conspiracy to assassinate Dr. King existed. The three most comprehensive investigations into the matter all confirm that. Those sources are King v. Jowers . . ., the House Select Committee on Assassinations, and Senator Church’s Committee on Intelligence Overreach. Anyone who reads those will find evidence that government agencies were involved.
Few people have enough time or desire to do that much reading. I understand that. People are busy. It can be depressing. But here’s the thing. In order to get all the information needed to make an accurate assessment of something, you have to read the details. If you don’t, then you’re simply being told what to believe by someone else. Inexplicably, it seems to me that many authors who have written about the Martin Luther King Assassination never actually read the transcript of King v. Jowers . . ..
Why is something that occurred fifty years ago still important? I’d like to propose it’s not important. It’s crucial. Despite all the benevolent things we know King did, many citizens, business owners, law enforcement personnel, and politicians opposed civil rights. And many still do! Think about why anyone would be against fair wages, voting rights, racial justice, adequate education, and affordable healthcare. Spokespeople advance a lot of talking points in an effort to justify such opposition, yet critical analysis reveals undemocratic intentions among several American leaders. Knowledge cultivates the power to resist.
References
https://www.readersdigest.com.au/true-stories-lifestyle/12-crazy-conspiracy-theories-actually-turned-out-be-true
https://www.businessinsider.com/true-government-conspiracies-2013-12
https://www.criminaljusticedegreehub.com/conspiracy-theories/
https://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/privacy-and-surveillance/nsa-continues-violate-americans-internet-privacy
https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/10/25/us-new-evidence-suggests-monitoring-americans#
https://www.expressvpn.com/blog/8-ways-the-nsa-spies-on-you/
https://www.njherald.com/story/opinion/2021/05/07/u-s-government-spies-americans-and-lies-it-napolitano/4989229001/
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-nsa-spying/u-s-court-mass-surveillance-program-exposed-by-snowden-was-illegal-idUSKBN25T3CK
https://www.aclu.org/other/nsa-spying-americans-illegal
https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/search/site/mk-ultra
https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/brainwashed-mkultra
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/09/758989641/the-cias-secret-quest-for-mind-control-torture-lsd-and-a-poisoner-in-chief
http://www.carlbernstein.com/magazine_cia_and_media.php (CIA propaganda)
https://www.marketplace.org/2020/10/21/mass-media-propaganda-public-relations-advertising-committee-on-public-information-world-war-1-john-maxwell-hamilton/
https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-16-877r (U.S. gov’t “public relations” spending)
https://www.gao.gov/assets/690/680455.pdf (details)
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/10/08/government-communication-propaganda-427290
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/25/trump-hhs-ads-coronavirus-421957 (Trump propaganda)
Additional references in Tragedy of Kings