MLK’s 230K pages of documents declassified!
Washington, Jul 21 (EFE). –
The United States government announced the release on Monday of over 230,000 pages of documents about the 1968 assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee.
“The American people deserve answers decades after the horrific assassination of one of our nation’s great leaders,” said US Attorney General Pam Bondi in announcing the declassification.
The records, compiled by the FBI, were sealed in 1977 following a court order and were later moved to the National Archives and Records Administration.
They were to remain sealed until 2027, but the Justice Department attorneys requested that a federal judge unseal them earlier following an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in January.
The King family was given advance notice of the release and had their teams review the records before they were made public.
In a lengthy statement released Monday on X by The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center, King’s two living children, Martin III, 67, and Bernice, 62, said their father’s assassination has been a “captivating public curiosity for decades,” and called for the files to be “viewed within their full historical context.”
The King family pointed out that the reverend “was relentlessly targeted by an invasive, predatory, and deeply disturbing disinformation and surveillance campaign orchestrated by J. Edgar Hoover through the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).”
Meanwhile, on Monday, Alveda King, Reverend King’s niece and an outspoken conservative who has broken with King’s children on various issues, reacted with a statement saying she was “grateful to President Trump” for his “transparency.”
Martin Luther King Jr., a pastor and leader of the US civil rights movement, is recognized for his peaceful struggle against racism and inequality.
His landmark “I Have a Dream” speech and his role in passing key legislation made him a historical figure worldwide.
It has long been established that then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was intensely interested in King and others he considered radicals.
FBI documents that were previously made public indicate that the bureau tapped King’s phones, bugged his hotel rooms, and employed informants to collect data on him.
The Reverend was assassinated on Apr. 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, while supporting a workers’ strike.
His death generated national shock and reinforced his legacy as a symbol of the struggle for justice and equality. EFE ims-mcd
