Eyewitness to Murder or Denials of Conspiracy
CNN documentary on King's assassination raises unintended questions
2008-04-01
By Ronda Racha Penrice
Forty years ago, April 4, 1968, an assassin’s bullet killed Martin Luther King, Jr. at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. That bullet, as we knew then, killed more than a man. Over the years, countless television specials have delved into what died that day. Few of them, however, have attempted to recount, blow by blow, what actually happened. Even fewer have attempted to retrace the incidents leading up to that fateful moment. CNN’s "Eyewitness to Murder: The King Assassination," the first installment of their landmark Black in America documentary series consumes itself with it. Whether their approach succeeds or not is up for debate.
CNN and host Soledad O’Brien put the spotlight on James Earl Ray, the career criminal convicted of killing King. They trace his actions, insisting that he alone murdered King. Guided by Beverly Robinson, who heads the National Civil Rights Museum, housed at the site of King’s assassination, we see the furniture from the room Ray rented in a boarding house. We peep into the bathroom window from which he reportedly shot King and we see the gun he reportedly used.
On the King side of things, O’Brien walks with Rev. Billy Kyles, the last living person who spoke with King shortly before his murder, at the very Lorraine Motel where America lost its King. Andy Young and John Lewis, the two most well-known faces in the mix, offer insight into King’s restlessness and his utter exhaustion, clearly etched on his face in archival footage of the time. Young touches upon King’s lightheartedness despite his seriousness. King’s camp, as both Young and Lewis emphasize, strongly disagreed with King publicly opposing Vietnam as well as his involvement in the Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike. King was his own man, however, and refused to move with trepidation. He followed his sense of what was right and not just in his best interest. Without question, King accepted that his life would be short.
"Eyewitness" doesn’t ignore later claims of innocence from Ray, even interviewing attorney William F. Pepper, whose book, "An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King" convinced the King family to push for a re-opening of the case. The clip of Dexter King from that period especially stands out because his strong resemblance to his father takes you aback. Interestingly, Judge Joe Brown, better known today for his self-titled television court show, okayed the necessary steps to move forward in that direction. CNN outlines the claims and even re-plots the direction of the shot with Dr. Jerry Francisco, the medical examiner who actually examined King that night. CNN doesn’t ignore the claims; it just harps on James Earl Ray as the lone killer, subtly driving home the absurdity that Ray acted alone.
Others disagree. A Black Memphis policeman comments on the lack of security provided to King and how that contrasted from previous visits. Black firefighters note an abrupt change in their duties. A Black man who became a CIA agent six years after King’s assassination rushed to King’s slain body. Both Andy Young and John Lewis believe that Ray didn’t act alone but nothing much is made of their claims. Mind you CNN doesn’t ignore twisted FBI head honcho J. Edgar Hoover’s goal of destroying King, even citing documents clearly announcing Hoover’s intentions as well as various tactics he employed with the goal of discrediting King. Logically, if the FBI can target those who stand for peace and freedom, is it so inconceivable that a bank robber from Alton, Illinois, with no history of racially-motivated criminal activity or international savvy, didn’t act alone in killing King? Is it also reasonable that the man who alone would murder Dr. King tried to escape to Africa to avoid capture?
"Eyewitness to Murder" is to serve as a thinking man’s account of King’s assassination. There are glimpses of the cities that erupted in rioting following King’s death, but no emphasis. It is not Eyes on the Prize or At the River I Stand, the highly emotional 1993 documentary behind the Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike. There is no Mahalia Jackson singing “Precious Lord” at King’s funeral. The fact that one side of Dr. King’s face was basically blown off is delivered matter-of-factly. There are no emotional touchstones.
This emotional distance makes "Eyewitness to Murder" interesting but not stirring, provocative but not provoking. It drives home the point that James Earl Ray alone killed King because all the evidence leads to that conclusion. Granted Ray himself appeared crazy in his later years, with all the facts CNN delivers here, there are viewers like myself who will still question if the “facts” are exactly as they seem even forty years later.
Veteran freelance writer and self-diagnosed television junkie Ronda Racha Penrice is the author of African American History For Dummies, which includes a chapter on film/television as well as chapters on King and the Civil Rights Movement.
"Eyewitness to Murder" airs on CNN Thursday, April 3 at 9pm ET