{"id":114193,"date":"2019-01-21T14:54:38","date_gmt":"2019-01-21T18:54:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=114193"},"modified":"2019-01-21T14:55:13","modified_gmt":"2019-01-21T18:55:13","slug":"epic-mlk-day-demand-issued-regarding-the-four-big-1960s-assassinations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=114193","title":{"rendered":"Epic MLK Day Demand Issued to Reinvestigate the Four Big 1960s Assassinations"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Call to Reinvestigate American Assassinations<\/strong><\/h1>\n

By John Simkin
\nSpartacus Educational Publishers Ltd<\/p>\n

To mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day a group of academics, journalists, lawyers, Hollywood artists, activists, researchers and intellectuals, including two of Robert F. Kennedy\u2019s children, are calling for \u00a0reinvestigation of four assassinations of the 1960s.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the occasion of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a group of over 60 prominent American citizens is calling upon Congress to reopen the investigations into the assassinations of President\u00a0John F. Kennedy<\/a>,\u00a0Malcolm X<\/a>,\u00a0Martin Luther King Jr.<\/a>, and Senator\u00a0Robert F. Kennedy<\/a>. Signers of the joint statement include\u00a0Isaac Newton Farris Jr.<\/a>, nephew of Reverend King and past president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Reverend\u00a0James M. Lawson Jr<\/a>., a close collaborator of Reverend King; and\u00a0Robert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Kathleen Kennedy Townsend<\/a>, children of the late senator. The declaration is also signed by numerous historians, journalists, lawyers and other experts on the four major assassinations.<\/p>\n

Other signatories include\u00a0G. Robert Blakey<\/a>, the chief counsel of the\u00a0House Select Committee on Assassinations<\/a>, which determined in 1979 that President Kennedy was the victim of a probable conspiracy; Dr.\u00a0Robert McClelland<\/a>, one of the surgeons at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas who tried to save President Kennedy\u2019s life and saw clear evidence he had been struck by bullets from the front and the rear;\u00a0Daniel Ellsberg<\/a>, the Pentagon Papers whistleblower who served as a national security advisor to the Kennedy White House;\u00a0Richard Falk<\/a>, professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University and a leading global authority on human rights; Hollywood artists\u00a0Alec Baldwin<\/a>,\u00a0Martin Sheen<\/a>,\u00a0Rob Reiner<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Oliver Stone<\/a>; political satirist\u00a0Mort Sahl<\/a>; and musician\u00a0David Crosby<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

JFK: November 22, 1963.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The joint statement calls for Congress to establish firm oversight on the release of all government documents related to the Kennedy presidency and assassination, as mandated by the\u00a0JFK Records Collection Act of 1992<\/a>. This public transparency law has been routinely defied by the CIA and other federal agencies. The Trump White House has allowed the CIA to continue its defiance of the law, even though the JFK Records Act called for the full release of relevant documents in 2017.<\/p>\n

The group statement also calls for a public inquest into \u201cthe four major \u00a0assassinations of the 1960s that together had a disastrous impact on the course of American history.\u201d This tribunal \u2013 which would hear testimony from living witnesses, legal\u00a0experts, investigative journalists, historians and family members of the victims \u2013 would be modeled on the Truth and Reconciliation hearings held in South Africa after the fall of apartheid. This American Truth and Reconciliation process is intended to encourage Congress or the Justice Department to reopen investigations into all four organized acts of political violence.<\/p>\n

Signers of the joint statement, who call themselves the Truth and Reconciliation Committee, are also seeking to reopen the\u00a0Robert F. Kennedy<\/a>\u00a0assassination case, stating that Sirhan Sirhan\u2019s conviction was based on \u201ca mockery of a trial.\u201d The forensic evidence alone, observes the statement, demonstrates that Sirhan did not fire the fatal shot that killed Senator Kennedy \u2013 a conclusion reached by, among others, Dr.\u00a0Thomas Noguchi<\/a>, the Los Angeles County Coroner who performed the official autopsy on RFK.<\/p>\n

The joint statement \u2014 which was co-written by\u00a0Adam Walinsky<\/a>, a speechwriter and top aide of Senator Kennedy \u2014 declares that these<\/p>\n

\u201cFour major political murders\u00a0traumatized American life\u00a0in\u00a0the 1960s\u00a0and cast a shadow over the country for decades thereafter.\u00a0John F. Kennedy<\/a>,\u00a0Malcolm X<\/a>,\u00a0Martin Luther King Jr.<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Robert F. Kennedy<\/a>\u00a0were each in his own unique way attempting to turn the United States away from war toward disarmament and peace,\u00a0away from domestic violence and division toward\u00a0civil amity and justice.\u00a0Their killings were together a savage, concerted assault on American democracy and the tragic consequences of these assassinations still haunt our nation.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Truth and Reconciliation Committee views its joint statement as the opening of a long campaign aimed at shining a light on dark national secrets. As the public transparency campaign proceeds, citizens across the country will be encouraged to add their names to the petition. The national effort seeks to confront the forces behind America\u2019s democratic decline, a reign of secretive power that long precedes the recent rise of authoritarianism. \u201cThe organized killing of JFK, Malcolm, Martin, and RFK was a mortal attack on our democracy,\u201d\u00a0said historian\u00a0James W. Douglass<\/a>, author of\u00a0JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>(2010). \u201cWe\u2019ve been walking in the valley of the dead ever since.\u00a0Our campaign is all about recovering the truth embodied in the movement they led.\u00a0Yes, the transforming, reconciling power of truth will indeed set us free.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
The Truth and Reconciliation Committee\u2019s Calls for Action:<\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/header>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

MLK Jr.: April 4, 1968\u00a0(Wikimedia Commons)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

*\u00a0 We call upon Congress to establish continuing oversight on the release of government documents related to the presidency and assassination of President John F. Kennedy, to ensure public transparency as mandated by the JFK Records Collection Act of 1992. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform should hold hearings on the Trump administration\u2019s failure to enforce the JFK Records Act.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0 We call for a major public inquest on the four major assassinations of the 1960s that together had a disastrous impact on the course of American history: the murders of John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. This public tribunal, shining a light on this dark chapter of our history, will be modeled on the Truth and Reconciliation process in post-apartheid South Africa. The inquest \u2014 which will hear testimony from living witnesses, legal experts, investigative journalists, historians and family members of the victims \u2014 is intended to show the need for Congress or the Justice Department to reopen investigations into all four assassinations.<\/p>\n

* On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we call for a full investigation of Reverend King\u2019s assassination. The conviction of James Earl Ray for the crime has steadily lost credibility over the years, with a 1999 civil trial brought by Reverend King\u2019s family placing blame on government agencies and organized crime elements. Following the verdict, Coretta Scott King, the slain leader\u2019s widow, stated: \u201cThere is abundant evidence of a major, high-level conspiracy in the assassination of my husband.\u201d The jury in the Memphis trial determined that various federal, state and local agencies \u201cwere deeply involved in the assassination \u2026 Mr. Ray was set up to take the blame.\u201d Reverend King\u2019s assassination was the culmination of years of mounting surveillance and harassment directed at the human rights leader by J. Edgar Hoover\u2019s FBI and other agencies.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0 We call for a full investigation of the Robert F. Kennedy assassination case, the prosecution of which was a mockery of a trial that has been demolished by numerous eyewitnesses, investigators and experts \u2014 including former Los Angeles County Coroner Dr. Thomas Noguchi, who performed the official autopsy on Senator Kennedy. The forensic evidence alone establishes that the shots fired by Sirhan Sirhan from in front of Senator Kennedy did not kill him; the fatal shot that struck RFK in the head was fired at point\u2013blank range from the rear. Consequently, the case should be reopened for a new comprehensive investigation while there are still living witnesses \u2014 as there are in all four assassination cases.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

\n
\n
A Joint Statement on the Kennedy, King and
\nMalcolm X Assassinations and Ongoing Cover-ups:<\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/header>\n

1. As the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in 1979, President John F. Kennedy was probably killed as the result of a conspiracy.<\/p>\n

2. In the four decades since this Congressional finding, a massive amount of evidence compiled by journalists, historians and independent researchers confirms this conclusion. This growing body of evidence strongly indicates that the conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy was organized at high levels of the U.S. power structure, and was implemented by top elements of the U.S. national security apparatus using, among others, figures in the criminal underworld to help carry out the crime and cover-up.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

RFK: June 5, 1968.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

3. This stunning conclusion was also reached by the president\u2019s own brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, who himself was assassinated in 1968 while running for president \u2013 after telling close aides that he intended to reopen the investigation into his brother\u2019s murder if he won the election.<\/p>\n

4. President Kennedy\u2019s administration was badly fractured over his efforts to end the Cold War, including his back-channel peace feelers to the Soviet Union and Cuba and his plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Vietnam after the 1964 presidential election.<\/p>\n

5. President Kennedy has long been portrayed as a Cold War hawk, but this grossly inaccurate view has been strongly challenged over the years by revisionist historians and researchers, who have demonstrated that Kennedy was frequently at odds with his own generals and espionage officials. This revisionist interpretation of the Kennedy presidency is now widely embraced, even by mainstream Kennedy biographers.<\/p>\n

6. The official investigation into the JFK assassination immediately fell under the control of U.S. security agencies, ensuring a cover-up. The\u00a0Warren Commission<\/a>\u00a0was dominated by former CIA director\u00a0Allen Dulles<\/a>\u00a0and other officials with strong ties to the CIA and FBI.<\/p>\n

7. The corporate media, with its own myriad connections to the national security establishment, aided the cover-up with its rush to embrace the Warren Report and to scorn any journalists or researchers who raised questions about the official story.<\/p>\n

8. Despite the massive cover-up of the JFK assassination, polls have consistently shown that a majority of the American people believes Kennedy was the victim of a conspiracy \u2014 leading to the deep erosion of confidence in the U.S. government and media.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Malcolm X: February 21, 1965.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

9. The CIA continues to obstruct evidence about the JFK assassination, routinely blocking legitimate Freedom of Information requests and defying the JFK Records Collection Act of 1992, preventing the release of thousands of government documents as required by the law.<\/p>\n

10. The JFK assassination was just one of four major political murders that traumatized American life in the 1960s and have cast a shadow over the country for decades thereafter. John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were each in his own unique way attempting to turn the United States away from war toward disarmament and peace, away from domestic violence and division toward civil amity and justice. Their killings were together a savage, concerted assault on American democracy and the tragic consequences of these assassinations still haunt our nation.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

\n
\n
<\/h5>\n
<\/h5>\n
<\/h5>\n
People who have signed the statement:<\/strong><\/h5>\n<\/header>\n

Dr.\u00a0Gary L. Aguilar<\/a><\/p>\n

Daniel Alcorn<\/a><\/p>\n

Russ Baker<\/a><\/p>\n

Alec Baldwin<\/a><\/p>\n

G. Robert Blakey<\/a><\/p>\n

Denise Faura Bohdan<\/a><\/p>\n

Abraham Bolden<\/a><\/p>\n

Rex Bradford<\/a><\/p>\n

Douglas Caddy<\/a><\/p>\n

Rodnell Collins<\/a><\/p>\n

Debra Conway<\/a><\/p>\n

David Crosby<\/a><\/p>\n

Edward Curtin<\/a><\/p>\n

Dr.\u00a0Donald T. Curtis<\/a><\/p>\n

Alan Dale<\/a><\/p>\n

James DiEugenio<\/a><\/p>\n

James W. Douglass<\/a><\/p>\n

Laurie Dusek<\/a><\/p>\n

Daniel Ellsberg<\/a><\/p>\n

Karl Evanzz<\/a><\/p>\n

Richard A. Falk<\/a><\/p>\n

Isaac Newton Farris Jr.<\/a><\/p>\n

Marie Fonzi<\/a><\/p>\n

Libby Handros<\/a><\/p>\n

Dan Hardway<\/a><\/p>\n

Jacob Hornberger<\/a><\/p>\n

Douglas Horne<\/a><\/p>\n

Gayle Nix Jackson<\/a><\/p>\n

Stephen Jaffe<\/p>\n

James Jenkins<\/p>\n

Robert F. Kennedy Jr<\/a><\/p>\n

Bill Kelly<\/p>\n

Andrew Kreig<\/a><\/p>\n

John Kirby<\/p>\n

Rev.\u00a0James M. Lawson Jr<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jim Lesar<\/p>\n

Edwin Lopez<\/p>\n

David Mantik<\/p>\n

Dr.\u00a0Robert McClelland<\/a><\/p>\n

Mark Crispin Miller<\/p>\n

Jefferson Morley<\/p>\n

John Newman<\/p>\n

Len Osanic<\/p>\n

Lisa Pease<\/p>\n

William F. Pepper<\/p>\n

Jerry Policoff<\/p>\n

Rob Reiner<\/p>\n

Abby Rockefeller<\/p>\n

Dick Russell<\/p>\n

Mort Sahl<\/a><\/p>\n

Vincent Salandria<\/p>\n

Martin Sheen<\/a><\/p>\n

Lawrence P. Schnapf<\/p>\n

E. Martin Schotz<\/p>\n

Paul Schrade<\/p>\n

Peter Dale Scott<\/p>\n

John Simkin<\/a><\/p>\n

Bill Simpich<\/p>\n

Oliver Stone<\/a><\/p>\n

Dan Storper<\/p>\n

David Talbot<\/p>\n

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend<\/a><\/p>\n

Adam Walinsky<\/a><\/p>\n

Benjamin Wecht<\/p>\n

Dr. Cyril H. Wecht<\/p>\n

Betty Windsora<\/p>\n

Published by\u00a0Spartacus Educational.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

___
\nhttps:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/2019\/01\/20\/a-call-to-reinvestigate-american-assassinations\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Call to Reinvestigate American Assassinations<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114193\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=114193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=114193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}