REPRESENTING JAMES EARL RAY

Who killed Martin Luther King?

Considering all the people who may well have had motives to kill Martin Luther King, the first that comes to mind is J. Edgar Hoover, who notoriously despised him.

James Earl Ray

James Earl Ray

There were union organizers who took a dim view of King's activism with the garbage collectors of Memphis. A Ku Klux Klan contract hit is not beyond imagination. With King's active private life, which unfortunately had become public, the case could be about nothing more than a jealous husband.

A hit could even have been ordered by an ambitious member of his own entourage.

I questioned the Reverend James Bevel, a fine old southern preacher who was King's advance man.

"Did you all ever talk to Martin about his private life?"

Long pause.



"Yessuh. We ask him to change his ways."

"And what did he say?"

Longer pause.

"He say we must take him like he is."

"I see.... And did any of y'all ever think it might be better for everyone if he became a martyr instead of a scandal?"

The Reverend just hung his head. He never answered.



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