?Yes?others, including governmental agencies, were parties to
this conspiracy??or so ruled a Memphis jury in the 1999 case of
Kings v. Jowers. This verdict was the culmination of 20
years of research by William F. Pepper, a long-time friend and
confidant of the King family, in his attempt to exonerate James
Earl Ray, the man the government accused and convicted of the
assassination. Pepper uncovered evidence of a conspiracy that was,
he said, ?coordinated by the U.S. government with the assistance of
state and local officials and . . . local organized crime
operatives? to assassinate Martin Luther King, Jr. He details his
version of events in the new book An Act of State: The
Execution of Martin Luther King (Verso, 2003). A review on the
Web site of San Diego?s Current Affairs Bookstore argues that
Pepper?s efforts convincingly establish a case for ?how the United
States government effectively shut down one of the most promising
movements for social change by stopping its leader dead in his
tracks.? The review calls Pepper?s book ?an explosive record of one
of the most shameful episodes in U.S. history? that carries with it
?enormous implications for the progress of social and economic
change in the U.S.?
–Amelia Bauerly
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