On Monday, the Trump administration released over 230,000 pages of classified documents related to the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, despite concerns raised by the civil rights leader’s family.
In an executive order issued on 23 January, the US President mandated the declassification of government records concerning the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, as well as those of his brother Robert F. Kennedy, known as Bobby, and Martin Luther King Jr in 1968.
In March, the National Archives made available new classified documents about the assassination of President Kennedy, an event that shocked the United States and the world, spawning numerous theories and speculations.
They followed suit in April with documents regarding Bobby Kennedy, father of the current US Health Secretary, Robert Kennedy Jr, and Attorney General under the assassinated Democratic President.
The 230,000 pages released on Monday include details of the FBI’s investigation, the federal police’s international search for King’s presumed assassin, and testimony from one of his fellow inmates, according to a statement by US Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, who announced the release.
The US is committed to ensuring “complete transparency regarding this tragic and pivotal event in the nation’s history,” she stated.
However, in a statement, the children of the famed civil rights advocate expressed concern that the release of these documents might be used to “attack his legacy or the achievements of the movement.”
They recalled that during his lifetime, Martin Luther King was targeted by a “disinformation and surveillance campaign” orchestrated by then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, aimed at “discrediting his reputation and, more broadly, that of the civil rights movement.”
