After nearly 60 years, the Trump administration on Monday released 230,000 documents related to the assassination of civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The Nobel Laureate’s family acknowledges the need for transparency but worries about the documents being used to spread falsehoods.
In a post on X, Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, said the documents include “details about the FBI’s investigation into the assassination of MLK, discussion of potential leads, internal FBI memos detailing the progress of the case, information about James Earl Ray’s former cellmate who stated he discussed with Ray an alleged assassination plot, and more.”
Family calls for empathy and respect
King’s two children, Martin III, 67, and Bernice, 62, released a statement through the King Center saying their father’s tragic 1968 death has created personal grief for their family and an absence of more than 57 years.
“We ask those who engage with the release of these files to do so with empathy, restraint, and respect for our family’s continuing grief,” the statement read. “The release of these files must be viewed within their full historical context.”
FBI targeted King during his lifetime, family says
The King siblings also claim that during Dr. King’s life, the FBI, under J. Edgar Hoover, ran a targeted campaign to discredit and destroy him and the civil rights movement. This wasn’t just surveillance, they say, but a deliberate effort to undermine justice, truth and the freedoms of those demanding change.
They also mention the King family winning a 1999 civil lawsuit concluding MLK was killed in a conspiracy involving Loyd Jowers and government agencies, and that James Earl Ray was framed. They see the verdict as confirmation of their beliefs and will review the new files for any further insights.
King family reaffirms commitment to truth and justice
“While we support transparency and historical accountability, we object to any attacks on our father’s legacy or attempts to weaponize it to spread falsehoods,” the King family statement said. “Instead of repeating the injustices of the past, we encourage the public to continue the work that our father began – building equity, justice, and peace for all. Now more than ever, we must honor his sacrifice by committing ourselves to the realization of his dream – a society rooted in compassion, unity, and equality.”
The King family reviewed the documents before they were made public and had their own teams analyze them, according to the Associated Press, which continued even after the government released the documents to the public.
Impact of the release remains unclear
It’s still uncertain whether these documents reveal any new or significant information about MLK’s life, the civil rights movement, or his assassination.
