The relatives of Martin Luther King Jr. have voiced their apprehension regarding Donald Trump’s executive order to disclose documents related to the civil rights icon’s assassination, expressing concern that the president’s directive may reignite attempts to undermine the respected leader’s legacy in the eyes of the public.
In an interview with Axios, a friend of the King family stated: “We are aware that J Edgar Hoover sought to tarnish Dr. King’s legacy, and the family wishes to prevent that effort from succeeding,” alluding to the former FBI director and his agency’s extensive surveillance of King and his associates.
Beyond secret surveillance, the FBI also issued threats against King in various forms – including sending his wife, Coretta, a tape of King purportedly engaging in an extramarital affair, along with a note urging him to take his own life for the good of the civil rights movement.
These latest comments from the King family associate come in light of an executive order signed by Trump in January, coinciding with the start of his second term, which commanded the release of thousands of classified federal documents regarding King’s assassination in 1968.
He also mandated a similar release of classified documents related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, which occurred in 1963 and 1968, respectively.
Notably, the Kennedy brothers were related to Trump’s newly appointed health and human services director, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as his uncle and father.
“Their families and the American public deserve openness and honesty,” Trump’s executive order stated. “It is in the interest of the nation to promptly disclose all records associated with these assassinations.”
In January, Trump confidently told reporters: “Everything will be exposed.”
Following Trump’s directive, the King family issued a statement declaring: “For us, our father’s assassination represents a profoundly personal loss that we have borne for 56 years. We hope to have the chance to examine the files as a family before they are released to the public.”
However, according to a White House official who spoke to Axios, the Trump administration declined that request from the King family, while asserting that the denial was not motivated by any ill will towards them.
A second source relaying the perspective of one of King’s surviving adult children shared with the outlet that “there are significant worries” within the family regarding the mandated release.
“They understand that the right wing aims to disparage Dr. King, and one method to do so is by presenting these accusations to the public under the pretense of transparency. If there are legitimate assassination records, those should be shared. But accusations are not the same as assassination records,” the source elaborated to Axios.
King devoted his life to championing civil rights throughout the United States before being fatally shot by assassin James Earl Ray at the Lorraine motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968.
A 2020 documentary by U.S. filmmaker Sam Pollard, titled MLK/FBI, examines the agency’s pursuit of King through state-sanctioned surveillance.
