Killing King: Racial Terrorists, James Earl Ray, and the Plot to Assassinate Martin Luther King Jr. w/ Stuart Wexler

On this edition of Parallax Views, in light of the recent death of George Floyd and the intense protests against police brutality and racism that followed it we take a look back at the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. with author and historian Stuart Wexler. Stuart, is the co-author, alongside Stuart Wexler, of Killing King: Racial Terrorists, James Earl Ray, and the Plot to Assassinate Martin Luther King Jr.

On April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee the civil right leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was fatally shot on the second floor of the Lorraine Motel by James Earl Ray. Ray fled the scene before eventually being caught two months later on June 8, 1968 at London Heathrow Airport. On his 41st birthday, March 10, 1969 he confessed to the assassination of MLK, Jr. Ray, who had a history of felonious conduct, was promptly convicted and sentenced to 99 years in prison for his crime. On April 23rd 1998, a 70 year old Ray finally perished at Columbia National Hospital from complications of hepatitis C.

But is that the end of the story? In the 1970s The House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) argued that, while Ray was the assassin, that there was "a likelihood" that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy, although not one involving the federal government. Additionally, James Earl Ray spent the years after making his confession claiming that he was not, in fact, behind the assassination of the beloved civil rights leader and referenced a conspiracy involving a character he only referred to as "Raul". Meanwhile, William Pepper, an attorney, activist, and friend of MLK, went on to famously argue for Ray's innocence and that King's execution was an "Act of State" implicating federal government alphabet soup agencies like the CIA and FBI. Pepper even went on to represent the King family in a wrongful death suit case after the death of Ray that centered on the accusation of government culpability in the assassination.

Wexler and Hancock take a very different view of the assassination of Pepper and other who, perhaps not without reason in light of the FBI's verified COINTELPRO operations against the Civil Rights, harbor suspicions against the federal government in regards to the King assassination. Moreover, they do not argue for the innocence of James Earl Ray. They do, however, agree with the assessment of the HSCA that the King assassination was the likely result of a conspiracy.

In Killing King: Racial Terrorists, James Earl Ray, and the Plot to Assassinate Martin Luther King Jr., Wexler and Hancock make the case that King's execution was the result of a plot by white supremacist terrorists seeking to use racial terrorism as a mean by which to ignite race war. These terrorists, they argue, were driven by a strange and esoteric racist religious theology that believed in the necessity of an apocalyptic racial holy war that would leave only the white man left standing. Moreover, Wexler and Hancock claim that this network of white supremacist extremists were likely involved in other incidents of racial terror throughout the 20th century including the Mississippi Burning and the Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

In this fascinating conversation, Wexler joins us in his second appearance on the program to layout the hypothesis found in James Earl Ray, and the Plot to Assassinate Martin Luther King Jr., taking us on a journey through a labyrinth of figures and organization such as the KKK, the Dixie Mafia, segregationist attorney who advocated for racial terrorism, and others whom he believes coalesced into a loose network that brought about waves of racist violence in the 20th century including the assassination of America's most beloved Civil Right leader. All that and more on this edition of Parallax Views.

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