Who was responsible for MLK's death 44 years ago today?

On this, the 44th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. I remembered an article I wrote for Breitbart's Big Peace site a little more than a year ago. After Breitbart's website reconstruction, the article is no longer available there but I did find it at America-where are you? In light of the enflamed racial environment and lack of complete perspective these days, I thought I'd post it today, on April 4th.

Using Left’s Logic, Democrats Responsible for MLK’s Death
by BEN BARRACK on JANUARY 18, 2011

In 1999, James Earl Ray was found innocent of killing Martin Luther King Jr. in the same way O.J. Simpson was found guilty of killing his wife Nicole and Ron Goldman – in a civil trial. In fact, King’s family was as convinced of Ray’s innocence as the families of Nicole and Ron were convinced of Simpson’s guilt. In King vs. Loyd Jowers and conspirators unknown, there were 70 witnesses called; twelve jurors found in favor of the King family, which held a press conference after the verdict.

One of King’s sons – Dexter – had expressed his adamant belief that Ray was not his father’s assassin. In 1997, King told Ray personally that both he and his family believed him. What would it have taken for the Goldmans and the Browns to have believed Orenthal’s story that he was innocent? Anyone who remembers the looks on their faces, their resolve and their anger would have to concede that it would have required nothing short of cold hard facts.

The verdict in King vs. Jowers found a government conspiracy involving city, state, and federal agents complicit in the murder. Dexter King went so far as to name Memphis Police Department Officer, Lt. Earl Clark as his father’s assassin.

One week prior to King’s assassination on April 4, 1968 he had gone to Memphis to show support for local sanitation workers. Riots erupted in Memphis; one person was killed and sixty were injured. The incident was incredibly damaging to the cause of King and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). A consequence of King’s alleged involvement in those riots was that it caught the attention of some powerful politicians. A Democratic Senator from West Virginia delivered an extremely incendiary speech on the Senate Floor that was directed specifically at President Lyndon Johnson, also a Democrat.

In that speech, none other than Robert Byrd pointed to the Memphis riots and the violent consequences as a warning to Johnson not to allow the marches King was planning on Washington in the coming weeks. Said Byrd:

Yesterday, Mr. President, the Nation was given a preview of what may be in store for this city by the outrageous and despicable riot that Martin Luther King helped to bring about in Memphis, Tenn. 

If this self-seeking rabble-rouser is allowed to go through with his plans here, Washington may well be treated to the same kind of violence, destruction, looting, and bloodshed.[1]

In no uncertain terms, Byrd was calling on Johnson to stop King’s march on D.C. Barely 48 hours later, on March 31st, Johnson would publicly announce that he would not seek reelection. Four days after that, Martin Luther King, Jr. was dead.

On April 4, 1967 – a year to the day prior to King’s assassination – King delivered his Beyond Vietnam speech at Riverside Baptist Church in New York City. A man named Vincent Harding is credited with writing most of it. According to Harding, King had already severely angered Johnson by delivering that speech, which could have made Johnson quite receptive to Byrd’s sentiment. In June of 2008, Harding spoke at Stanford University and said the following:

“Many people within the movement said, ‘Martin, you cannot raise your voice against Johnson’s war because Johnson is our man and if you raise your voice against Johnson’s war, Johnson being Johnson, is not going to like it.’”

In the hours and days after the Tucson shootings, the left wing media in America attempted to blame the Tea Party and right wing rhetoric for the deaths of six and the injuries of thirteen. Using their logic, the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. should be attributed to a Democratic U.S. Senator in Robert Byrd.

Based on the results of a civil trial in 1999, Byrd’s speech would have almost necessarily have played an even more direct role if the verdict is to be accepted.

Those who express skepticism at the results of the 1999 trial in which James Earl Ray was found innocent of assassinating King have an incredible hurdle to overcome – the belief of the King family, which sides with Ray. Some have indicated that King vs. Jowers was nothing more than a promotional stunt.

Such a conclusion must be drawn from a premise that the King family was willing to publicly, wrongfully, and unjustifiably vindicate Ray in order to accuse others simply to gain notoriety. There is an important flaw in that logic as well; the defendant was only sued for $100, which he was ordered to pay. To believe that the King family was motivated exclusively by publicity, one must believe that all of its members were involved in selling out the truth of their loved one’s assassination for three figures.

The facts are these. There was one week in 1968 when much happened. On March 28th, riots took place in Memphis and King was present; on March 29th, Democrat Senator Byrd threw down the gauntlet with Democrat president Lyndon Baines Johnson by delivering a fiery speech on the Senate Floor intended to get the president to stop King’s march; Johnson announced on March 31st that he would not seek reelection; a bullet would take the life of King days later on April 4th, one year to the day after delivering what many viewed as an incendiary speech at the time.

In 2011, the only irony greater than the left blaming right wing rhetoric for the violence perpetrated by an individual having no affiliation with the right, might be that the rhetoric of some very powerful people on the left may have had a direct role in the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

That is, of course, if one applies the logic of the left.

1. Speech of Senator Robert C. Byrd, Senate Journal, Appendix Two, March 29, 1968

For hyperlinks to this story, go HERE.

Senator Orrin Hatch says Axelrod and Plouffe will attack Romney's Mormonism

One day after Ron Paul supporter Bret Hatch initiated an awkward exchange with Mitt Romney over the latter's religion, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch (R) asserted that Obama smear merchants - David Axelrod and David Plouffe - are about to attack Romney over his religion as well.

Via POLITICO:

Sen. Orrin Hatch predicted President Obama's campaign team would use Mitt Romney's Mormon faith against him in the general election.

Speaking to a group of GOP delegates at a campaign stop Tuesday, the six-term Republican incumbent warned, "You watch, they're going to throw the Mormon church at him like you can't believe."

Asked to elaborate in an interview later, Hatch fingered campaign adviser David Axelrod and White House aide David Plouffe as the masterminds who would insert the issue into the campaign.

"Let me tell you something.  The Obama people have some of the best political consultants in the country and they don't get there because they're always wonderful people.  They're very tough.  I have respect for them.  They're very tough.  I've met with Axelrod, he's the best there is in the business.  Plouffe, you've got to say he's one of the best.  And there is nothing they won't do," Hatch asserted.

Hatch went even as far to say he thought the duo had already played the religion card against the likely GOP nominee, but failed to point to any evidence of it.

Oh, evidence? How about when Axelrod appeared to inadvertently send out a tweet that linked to a story about how Mormons prevent menstruating women from participating in proxy baptisms, a practice whereby deceased non-Mormons are baptized during the baptisms of living Mormons.

Axelrod's tweet was quickly deleted.

Like so many members of the Republican establishment, however, Hatch seems to think that Romney is deft enough to overcome the attacks.

"You can find some pretty outlandish statements by some of our early leaders that we've all had to live with from time to time, but he handles it very well and I think he's going to do a good job," Hatch told the gathering of delegates in this town about 20 minutes north of Salt Lake City.

Hatch, who frequently mentions Romney in his stump speeches, also asserted that attempting to assail Romney for his Mormon faith would only backfire.

"It's a mistake, because the one thing most people conclude if they have Mormon neighbors is that these people go to church.  These people love their families.  These are good people," Hatch said.  "That's going to be an advantage in the end because even people who don't like the Mormon church will say, but the Mormons are good people."

It might backfire among the Republican base but doesn't Romney need at least 10% of the black vote as well as a significant portion of the Jewish vote at a time when Obama as demonstrated a strong anti-Israel bias? How about women? Axelrod's tweet indicated that he is likely willing to portray the Mormon religion as sexist too.

Two Black men Arrested for nearly beating White man to death with a Hammer... in same community where Trayvon was Killed

Two black men slightly older than Trayvon Martin pulled a 50-year-old white man from his vehicle near Sanford, FL - the same community where Trayvon was killed one month ago - and repeatedly beat him with a hammer, nearly killing him. Hate crime anyone?

Via Orlando Sentinel:

A tip to Crimeline has led to the arrests of two men in a brutal beating that occurred a week ago in the Midway community east of Sanford.

Julius Ricardo Bender, 18, and Yahaziel Isaac Israel, 19, face charges of attempted first-degree murder, burglary with assault or battery and armed burglary.

The victim, a 50-year-old Winter Springs man whose name has not been released, is on life-support at Orlando Regional Medical Center.

Deputies were called to the area of Lincoln Street and Beardall Avenue about 6:30 p.m. March 26 to investigate a report of a man being beaten, Seminole County Sheriff's spokeswoman Heather Smith said.

As Weasel Zippers points out, the Orlando Sentinel article does not make any reference to the race of either the assailants or the victim but does include mugshots of the two arrested men, who are clearly black.

A local news report on WFTV 9 does mention the race of the victim; he's white.

Ok, so at about the same time that the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) was putting a bounty on George Zimmerman's head; the same time that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson were throwing gas on an enflaming racially tense situation in Sanford, FL; these two black men - in the same community - allegedly beat an innocent white man within an inch of his life.

Flashback to the days after the Gabrielle Giffords shooting. Within hours, the New York Times' Paul Krugman alleged that Giffords' shooting was likely a right-wing attack:

We don’t have proof yet that this was political, but the odds are that it was.

He also blamed talk radio:

You know that Republicans will yell about the evils of partisanship whenever anyone tries to make a connection between the rhetoric of Beck, Limbaugh, etc. and the violence I fear we’re going to see in the months and years ahead. But violent acts are what happen when you create a climate of hate. And it’s long past time for the GOP’s leaders to take a stand against the hate-mongers.

As it turned out, the shooter - Jared Loughner - if he was political at all, leaned left (the Communist manifesto was listed as one of his favorite books); he also didn't listen to talk radio.

Applying Paul Krugman's standard, Sharpton and Jackson should be in handcuffs right now.

Paging Paul Krugman...