King
assassination explored in new book
By Monica Levette Clark
On-line Forty-Niner
During
the first month of every year, the nation
holds a day of remembrance of civil rights
activist and reverend, Martin Luther King
Jr., who was fatally shot on April 4, 1968
on the balcony of his hotel room in Memphis,
Tenn.
 William
F. Pepper, author of “An Act of State: The
Execution of Martin Luther King,” believed
to be “an invaluable asset in the struggle
to humanize our land,” if only he had lived.
Pepper, who practices international human
rights law from London, and holds seminars
on international human rights at Oxford
University, has represented both governments
and heads of state. He met King, he
said a year before his assassination.
“Martin came across my article, ‘The Children
of Vietnam,’ in Rampart Magazine in 1967
and said he was visibly shaken,” Pepper
said. “He asked to meet with me.”
Their friendship between the men ensued
which but abruptly ended in 1968 with King’s
death.The 272-page book published this year
by Verso is a follow up to Pepper’s first
book on the subject of Kings death in 1995,
“Orders to Kill.”
Where “Orders to Kill,” focused mainly on
his findings of a larger conspiracy involving
the FBI, CIA and the Memphis Police Department,
to kill King, “An Act of State,” focuses
its attention on the trial, conviction and
later on, exoneration of James Earl Ray.
“Ray was an unknowing patsy,” Pepper said.
The two-part book goes into detail about
the man people assumed to be King’s killer,
shedding light on details about his life
before and after the assassination.
“I interrogated Ray for five hours and came
away with the view that [he] was definitely
not the shooter,” Pepper said. “He
was a very different person than how he
was portrayed to us. He was gentile,
quiet and almost shy. He didn’t give any
indication of being a racist at all.”
Fueled by his disappointment with the U.S.
Attorney General’s Report with the case
against Ray, Pepper decided to represent
Ray in his appellate cases in 1988, after
ten years of his own investigation of evidence,
witnesses and scenarios presented in the
state’s case.
“In ‘An Act of State,’ Bill Pepper argues
that government was turned on America’s
greatest prophet of non-violent change,”
wrote Ramsey Clark, US Atty. Gen. From 1967
to 1969.
Coretta, King’s widow said the findings
of [Pepper’s] exhaustive investigation and
additional revelations from the trial are
presented in this important book.”
“I’ve been able, gradually to get to people
that would have held this information to
their graves,” Pepper said. “People
held these facts in for years because they
were frighten, and there are people today
still holding things back.”
Pepper signed copies of his new controversial
book at a book signing hosted by 2000+ Bookstore
in downtown Long Beach. About 20 people
attended the signing, packing out the small,
independent bookstore. Limited number of
copies are on sale at the bookstore, which
is located at 309 Pine Ave.
As part of the events celebrating Black
History month throughout February, the bookstore
will host a book signing of Nikki Giovanni,
a famous black poet and author of several
books from 5 p.m to 6 p.m. on Feb. 12, to
sign copies of her new book of “poems
and not quite poems,” titled “Quilting The
Black-Eyed Pea.”
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