Why Did Trump Order Declassification of the Files on JFK, RFK, and MLK?

My VIPs for this week are John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. All three of these men were assassinated approximately 60 years ago. I agree with the “Seven in 10 Americans” who “support President Donald Trump’s decision to release classified documents” about their assassinations. R. E. Wermus reported the following on a recent Napolitan News Service survey. 

A majority of Americans, 57%, believe the documents will reveal significant new information about the assassinations.

The poll of 1,000 registered voters was conducted by pollster Scott Rasmussen’s RMG Research in the wake of Trump’s Jan. 23 executive order. It set a 15-day deadline for officials to outline a plan for releasing the JFK files and 45 days for RFK and MLK….

Documents related to JFK’s assassination in 1963, his brother RFK’s murder in 1968, and MLK’s in 1968 have remained classified by the government. Trump, during his first term, and other presidents previously declined to release the information, citing national security concerns.

A significant portion of the public suspects the U.S. intelligence community or other government agencies were involved in the assassinations of all three men.

The survey found that 54% of respondents believe the government was likely involved in JFK’s assassination. Meanwhile, 48% think the government played a role in RFK’s killing, and 53% believe the government was involved in the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

Republicans were more likely to approve of Trump’s executive order than Democrats: 92% of Republicans favor releasing the documents compared to 44% of Democrats….

The poll was conducted Jan. 28-29 with a 3.1% margin of error.

Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr.

            Today marks fifty years since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed. On April 4, 1968, he was murdered at age 39 in Memphis, Tennessee, by James Earl Ray. King preached at the Mason Temple, headquarters of the Church of God in Christ, the night previous to his assassination. He had received numerous death threats and as obviously nervous whenever he heard loud sounds during his talk. However, his “I’ve been to the mountain top” speech is well remembered and seems fairly prophetic. 

I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. So I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

            According to Joseph Rosenbloom, King was well educated as well as being an eloquent and powerful speaker. He could “exhibit the clipped diction of a lofty academic or the earthy vernacular of African American speech.” He seemed to have a photographic memory, and he often spoke without notes. His voice was a rich baritone and “was almost musical in its harmonic rise and fall. It was at once lucid and richly ornate.” Mary McGrory, columnist for the Washington Evening Star wrote that he spoke with “baroque phrases” and “mellifluous, mesmerizing tones.” This writer would add that Reverend King had a memorable and recognizable voice.

Let Freedom Ring for All Americans

                August 28, 2013, marked the fiftieth anniversary of the famous “I Have a Dream” speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It seems that everyone has something to say about the event.  I decided that I needed to add my voice to those who remember the famous March on Washington.  While standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, civil rights leader King captivated the nation with his speech.  Approximately 250,000 people joined this “March on Washington.”

                I knew nothing about the march or the speech; at least, I do not remember anything particular about it.  In fact, I never saw a real-live “Negro” until I was a senior in high school and had moved away from the farm.  I know there were Blacks in my second high school – some even in my classes – but I had no opportunities to interact with them.  By August 1963 I had graduated from high school and was involved in my own life. 

I knew there were problems in our nation concerning the relationship between white people and black people, but I understood little about them.  I had no previous experiences with problems between “my people” and any other race.  My mother grew up on an Indian Reservation and remained friends with many of her school mates for the rest of her life.  Whenever we went to town, Mom always met some of her “Indian” friends and stopped to visit with them.  I too attended school with the “Indians,” took classes with them, and considered them my friends.  They were some of the most beautiful people I ever met!  I always felt that my Native American friends were equal to me; in fact, I knew that in many respects they were superior to me.  This is probably the main reason why I could not understand why there were problems between the races.

I got a job at an Air Force Base a few years after I graduated from high school.  There were numerous Black airmen on base, and some of them worked in my building with me. This was my first experience of interacting with Blacks.  I remember a black Staff Sergeant whom I respected very much.  I did not consider him as “different” than I; I considered him to be an intelligent and hard-working man who always dressed sharply and carried himself with confidence.  We each had a job to do, and we each did our jobs.

Fast forward a few years until I was married and had small children of my own.  I was in a checkout line in a store when my five-year-old daughter saw her first black person, a woman.  She was so concerned about the color of the woman’s skin and wanted to know what was wrong with her skin.  Her compassion was evident in her voice.  I apologized to the woman for my daughter pointing at her and then proceeded to explain to my daughter that there was nothing wrong with the woman and that she was the same as us except she had a different color of skin.  Since that time I have known and appreciated many black people and call them my friends.  I still do not understand why there is a problem between the races!

Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr. gave an elegant speech fifty years ago, some of which has been quoted many times.  The most often quoted is the statement, “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed:  `We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ …

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

This is a dream that many people desire.  I want to be judged by my character and not by the color of my skin.  I want my children and grandchildren to be judged by the good they do and not for their white skin.  I want my family to be respected for who we are and not be condemned for something done a long time ago by people we never even knew or even descended from!

Few people remember how Dr. King started his speech:  “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation.  This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice.  It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

“But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free.  One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.  One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.  One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.  And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

“In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check.  When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the `unalienable Rights’ of `Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.’  It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned.  Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked `insufficient funds.’

“But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.  We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.  And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.”

It seems that no matter what we do or how much we give, we can never repay this “check” that came back marked “insufficient funds.”  How much longer will we be held responsible for things done many years ago?  How much more do we have to pay?

Dr. King gave other speeches that are memorable but few are seldom quoted.  On October 26, 1967, about four years after the Washington march, he spoke to a group of students at Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia.   I wonder what kind of difference it would make in our world today if this speech were quoted more often. 

“And when you discover what you will be in your life, set out to do it as if God Almighty called you at this particular moment in history to do it.  Don’t just set out to do a good job.  Set out to do such a good job that the living, the dead or the unborn couldn’t do it any better.

“If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, seep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera.  Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry.  Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say:  Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well. 

“If you can’t be a pine at the top of the hill, be a shrub in the valley.  Be the best little shrub on the side of the hill.  Be a bush if you can’t be a tree.  If you can’t be a highway, just be a trail.  If you can’t be a sun, be a star.  For it isn’t by size that you win or fail.  Be the best of whatever you are.”

Fifty years is a long time.  The young adults of fifty years ago are now among the elderly.  More than 250,000 people marched with Dr. King in 1963 while “tens of thousands” came to commemorate his march in 2013.  Fifty years ago people understood what real racism was; now people call everything “racism” and people “racist” if they have a different point of view!

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave good counsel for members of every race.  Every American should be equal under the law; each one of us should have the Right to pursue our dreams and have life, liberty and the opportunity to be happy.  I believe that it is time for each of us to step back and take another look at where we are.  We live in a nation where a half black man is the President and a black man sits on the Supreme Court.  We have another black man who became a famous brain surgeon, and still other black men and black women who sit in our halls of Congress.  We have black millionaires and blacks leading in every area of our lives.  How much more equal can we get?  How much longer do we have to fight this “racial war”?  How much more do white Americans have to pay before we have paid that “check” in full?  I have a dream of an America where my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren can live in peace with people of all colors!

Martin Luther King, Jr.

My VIP for this week is Martin Luther King, Jr., the black civil rights leader. As I write this post, Americans are enjoying a national holiday - a day off work or out of school - in his honor. Many cities, including Anchorage, are calling for today to be a day for service.

King was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 15, 1929, as the second of three children born to his parents. He was the eldest son and was named after his father who was pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. One of his grandfathers had also served as pastor at that church.

King did very well in high school, skipping the 9th and 12th grades and entering Morehouse College in Atlanta at age 15. While at Morehouse, King decided to become a minister and was ordained just before he graduated in 1948. He earned a divinity degree at Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, and then went to graduate school at Boston University. He graduated with a Ph.D. degree in theology.

While in Boston he met Coretta Scott, a music student. They married in 1953 and eventually had four children. King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1954.

King began his civil rights activities in 1955 in connection with a protest of Montgomery's segregated bus system. Montgomery had a city law that required blacks to give up their seats on buses when white people wanted those seats or to sit in that row. One day in 1955 a black passenger named Rosa Parks decided to disobey that law. She was arrested for her disobedience.

Blacks were urged by black leaders in Montgomery to boycott the city's buses. An organization was formed to run the boycott, and King was chosen to be president of that organization. King insisted on nonviolent protests, but his own home was bombed. For over a year, thousands of blacks refused to use the buses. By orders from the United States Supreme Court in 1956, Montgomery was forced to provide equal, integrated seating on public buses.

King joined with other black ministers to expand the nonviolent struggle against racism and discrimination. At that time, segregation existed throughout the South in public schools, transportation, recreation, hotels, and restaurants. Some states deprived blacks of the right to vote.

In 1960 King moved to Atlanta and became co-pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church with his father. In 1961, the civil rights movement picked up steam when black college students across the South began to push back. They sat at lunch counters and entered other facilities that refused to serve blacks. Massive demonstrations were launched in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest racial discriminations. Dogs and water hoses were used by police to drive back peaceful protesters, including children.  A national outcry against segregation was the result of heavy news coverage. John F. Kennedy proposed a civil rights bill to Congress.

On August 28, 1963, more than 200,000 people attended an event called the March on Washington. They gathered at the Lincoln Memorial where the high point was a speech by King. This stirring "I have a dream" speech defined the moral basis of the civil rights movement.

"The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited racial discrimination in public places and called for equal opportunity in employment and education. King later received the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize" (David J. Garrow, World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. 11, p 321).

In spite of the new legislation, white officials in Selma, Alabama, denied most black citizens the chance to register and vote. In a protest organized by King in 1965, several hundred protesters were attacked by police officers using tear gas and clubs to break up the group as they attempted to march from Selma to Montgomery, the state capital. This attack was broadcast nationwide and shocked the general public.

Lyndon B. Johnson requested a bill in Congress that would eliminate all barriers to Southern blacks' right to vote. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was soon passed by Congress, but violence continued against civil rights workers in the South.

In 1967 King enlarged his movement to include poverty. "He believed poverty was as great an evil as racism. He said that true social justice would require a redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor. Thus, King began to plan a Poor People's Campaign that would unite poor people of all races in a struggle for economic opportunity. The campaign would demand a federal guaranteed annual income for poor people and other major antipoverty laws" (David J. Garrow, World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. 11, p 323).

King also joined the growing anti-war movement against the Vietnam War. While supporting a strike of black garbage men in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, King was shot and killed by James Earl Ray. King's body was first buried at South View Cemetery in Atlanta and later moved near Ebenezer Baptist Church.
The following words from King's "I Have A Dream" speech are on his tombstone: "Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, I'm free at last."

Shock, grief, and anger followed King's assassination. More than 100 cities in our nation experienced riots by black people. The Civil Rights Act of 1968 prohibited racial discrimination in the sale and rental of most housing in the United States. An area including King's birthplace, church and burial spot was made the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site in 1980. Congress passed a law in 1983 designating the third Monday in January as a federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.