The William Pepper Story

On April 4, 1968 the world stopped in shock as the news of the assassination of the Dr Martin Luther King began to circulate. I was in class at Rabaut Jr. School in Washington DC when the principal called out a list of students he wanted sent to the office. There was only one kid on the list in our class. He looked at us and the teacher, gathered his stuff and then left. About half an hour later the principal made another announcement that school would be let out early and that we were to return to our homerooms for dismissal. By the time my friends and I got outside, the parking lot was in complete chaos. It was jammed full of parents coming to pick up their kids. It was only later when I got home that I learned that Dr King had been killed. It was later still, when I learned that the school had dismissed all the white children an half an hour earlier than the black children because of safety concerns. Over the next few days Washington DC, like many cities all over America would be engulfed in the fires of black rage.

Who is William Pepper?

Now anyone who knows me, knows that the last thing I am is a conspiracist. I mean if you believe the world is flat, that they didn’t land on the moon and the government is running secret weather controlling experiments.. well by god boy… good for you. Well that is at least until recently. The story of William Pepper cannot be ignored. Who is William Pepper? He is an attorney who is well known in conspiracy circles and was a close friend of Dr. King. He doesn’t believe that Sirhan Sirhan shot Robert Kennedy, he has his doubts about what really happened during 9/11 and for the focus of this story, he believes that James Earl Ray did not kill Dr King. Now normally I would let sleeping dogs lie, but living through the Civil Rights era and having a first hand.. second hand knowledge of the atrocities of that time, I just couldn’t dismissed his claim out of hand. According to Pepper, Dr King was alive and conscious when they brought him into the emergency room and that during the exam, the doctor in attendance allegedly suffocated him with a pillow and then spit on him. In addition some papers had reported that the government knew ahead of time about the assassination attempt and had military sharpshooters disguised as photographers ready to finish the job in case Ray missed his target.

They Don’t Make Them Like That No More..

“Stop working on that nigg*r and let him die. Now all of you get out of here, right now. Everybody get out.” These were the instructions allegedly heard by Lula Mae Shelby, a surgical assistant at the hospital Dr. King was taken to. She said the instructions were allegedly given by Dr Breen “The Only Good N-word Is A Dead N-word” Bland, who then with two other men walked over to Dr. King’s bed, removed the breathing tube from his throat and suffocated him with a pillow. Bland was the chief of surgery at St. Joseph’s Hospital where Dr. King died. Now, I have a toilet stool on every floor in my house. I used them when I need to do my business the way nature intended. With that being said, I don’t need no hot racist or dey kin coming up heh wit dey rock hard lawyers talking about dey gonna sue the sh*t out of me…. and dey mean every last bit of it!!! “Boy you won’t even need an ass after we’ve finished with you!!” So to reiterate… this whole story allegedly happened. Okay let’s move on.

Keep Hope Alive!!

Like they say in the Matrix… we getting ready to go down the rabbit hole. The story also implies that the police, FBI and Mafia were in on it. Now the police and FBI… eh probably. But the mafia.. ain’t figured out that angle. Okay we are at the rabbit hole.. time to go. “Keep hope alive!! Keep hope alive!!” On July 19,1988, the Rev Jesse Jackson addressed the Democratic Convention in Atlanta Georgia. It was one of the most memorable speeches I had ever heard up to that time, coming in second only to Dr. Kings, “I Have A Dream” speech. It was a transitional moment for blacks and whites. So when I read this part of the story, I was heartbroken. Not only were the above mentioned people involved in his killing, but members of his inner circle were also allegedly involved. According to the story, some were on the FBI’s payroll and assisted in his killing, including Rev Jesse Jackson & Rev Billy Kyles. Rev Kyles had invited Dr King to Memphis to demonstrate support for a strike by 1,300 black city sanitation workers. The strikers were demanding a minimum 10-cents-an-hour wage increase, workplace safeguards and dignity. Anyway the story says that at first Dr. King refused because he was busy with his Poor People’s Campaign. He later agreed to accept Kyles request and made his way to Memphis along with his entourage. Kyles had invited Dr. King to a home cooked meal and when Dr. King accepted, he went to the motel to pick him up. Kyles, Dr. King and another great leader of the civil right ear, Rev Ralph Abernathy stayed in the room for about an hour just talking after Kyles came to pick them up. According to the deposition given by Kyles to the police, they were just talking “preacher talk.” They were getting along great, and he even picked out the tie King would wear to the dinner. As the men left the room to leave, Dr. King was gunned downed. Kyles died in 2016. He was the last person to die who was in the room with Dr. King moments before before his assassination.

Going deeper..

Ron Adkins who is the son of Russell Adkins testified that both Jackson & Kyles were paid by FBI through his father’s friend Clyde Tolson who was ironically J Edgar Hoover’s right hand man. Russell Adkins was the head of the Dixie Mafia. Russell Adkins was convicted of murder for the death of Dana Rosendale in 1982. He was given life with eligibility for parole in 15 years. In 2016 his sentence was overturned on the grounds that he did not receive a fair trial. As for Tolson, he was indeed the second-ranking official of the FBI from 1930 until 1972 and was considered  the protégé and long time top deputy of  J. Edgar Hoover. He died in 1975. That’s him and Hoover in the picture. I ain’t messing with Adkins.. I wanna keep the family jewels where they at. Anyway, the King family filed a civil suit in 1999 in an attempt to force more information into the public eye, and a Memphis jury ruled that the local, state and federal governments were liable for Dr King’s death. 

The Bottom

The King family released a statement after the verdict. It read in part:

“The jury was clearly convinced by the extensive evidence that was presented during the trial that, in addition to Mr. Jowers, the conspiracy of the Mafia, local, state and federal government agencies, were deeply involved in the assassination of my husband. The jury also affirmed overwhelming evidence that identified someone else, not James Earl Ray, as the shooter, and that Mr. Ray was set up to take the blame. I want to make it clear that my family has no interest in retribution. Instead, our sole concern has been that the full truth of the assassination has been revealed and adjudicated in a court of law… My husband once said, “The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” To-day, almost 32 years after my husband and the father of my four children was assassinated, I feel that the jury’s verdict clearly affirms this principle. With this faith, we can begin the 21st century and the new millennium with a new spirit of hope and healing. We can say that because of the evidence and information obtained in Memphis we believe that this case is over. This is a period in the chapter. We constantly hear reports, which trouble me, that this verdict creates more questions than answers. That is totally false. Anyone who sat in on almost four weeks of testimony, with over seventy witnesses, credible witnesses I might add, from several judges to other very credible witnesses, would know that the truth is here. The question now is, “What will you do with that?” We as a family have done our part. We have carried this mantle for as long as we can carry it. We know what happened. It is on public record. The transcripts are available. Any serious researcher who wants to know what happened can find out.” – The King Center

So there we have it.. It is one theory of how the assassination of Dr. King unfolded. As for me.. I will defer to Shakespeare… “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in “my” philosophy.”

Reprint from ©Hill1News 2020

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