“There seem to be government connections to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Accused killer Ray was not arrested until nearly a month after the fact, in England, of all places. Where a nickel-and-dime crook like Ray got the funds for his extensive trans- and intercontinental travels piques the interest of all conspiracy researchers.

The government’s unusual behavior in prosecuting (and some would say, defending) Ray was also cause for concern. Only one witness, a chronic drunkard and self-avowed racist named Charles Q. Stephens, gave a positive make on Ray as the gunman. But he didn’t ‘recall’ that Ray was the he’d seen until six weeks later. On the night of the assassination, when interviewed by a newspaper reporter, Stephens described the man he’d seen fleeing from the alleged sniper’s nest as ‘a ni**er.’

Stephens’ live-in girlfriend, Grace Walden, has said that he was nearly unconscious from booze that night and couldn’t have observed much of anything. Walden had her own story. She had seen a white man- not fitting Ray’s description- running from the scene.

Walden was committed to a mental institution the same day her boyfriend was taken into FBI protective custody. A court later found that she was committed illegally. Grace Walden was the witness Mark Lane and Jim Jones discussed smuggling to Jonestown, according to the memo found in Jonestown files.

Is there a systematic conspiracy to eliminate black leaders, to disable and discredit black activist groups? There are conspiratorial cadres, the Ku Klux Klan and others, who wouldn’t be adverse to aim. The FBI formed its own conspiracy, COINTELPRO (short for counterintelligence program), which planted provocateurs in black activist groups, crippling them.” -From, “Conspiracies Cover-ups and Crimes” By: Jonathan Vankin

“One theory of Jonestown is that it was part of a “black genocide operation,” intended to be one of many such programs to entrap, enslave, and eventually kill off black people.

In the game of American power, blacks are consistent losers. Many of those blacks political leaders with the most potential to alter that situation have been cut down. No conspiracy theories required: Effective black politics has been decapitated by violence.

Malcolm X was assassinated just as he was beginning to moderate his views on separatism, just as he was coming in from the political fringe. Martin Luther King Jr., who never ran for office, was capable of changing the American system, and he did. He bridged society’s gaps. When he was assassinated, he was beginning to preach about economic democracy that would unify the underprivileged of all races.

Civil rights leader Medgar Evers was also assassinated. Kings’s mother was shot to death just days after King’s widow stated that she believed a conspiracy killed her husband.

Huey Newton founded the Black Panther Party. Their violent public image to the contrary, the Black Panthers’ most important achievements were in promoting community self-determination. Their free breakfast program for black schoolchildren was a model, and they started a private school that offered the quality education unavailable to inner city blacks in public schools. Newton was shot in an altercation with police and jailed for allegedly killing a police officer (long since passe, Newton was murdered on an Oakland street in 1989). Another Panther leader, Fred Hampton of Chicago, was gunned down by a gang of police who burst into his apartment at four in the morning.

The most recent death of an effective black leader came in August 1989. Mickey Leland, the Texas congressman who was the leading congressional advocate of African hunger relief, was killed on a mission to a mission to an Ethiopian refugee camp. The small plane carrying Leland and fifteen others- and which had been scheduled to have on board another outspoken black congressman, Ron Dellums- apparently crashed into the side of a mountain near Addis Ababa. The search for Leland in Marxist-ruled Ethiopia was the largest of its kind ever conducted. The intelligence community was openly involved, sending U-2 spy planes to survey the country.

A couple of the killings on the preceding list were obvious conspiracies. Others are more doubtful. The question is, if any were conspiracies, why?” -From, “Conspiracies Cover-ups and Crimes” By: Jonathan Vankin