Kennedy and King Family Members and Advisors Call
for Congress to Reopen Assassination Probes
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 John F. Kennedy,
Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Signers of
the joint statement include Isaac Newton Farris Jr., nephew of Reverend King
and past president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Reverend
James M. Lawson Jr., a close collaborator of Reverend King; and Robert F. Kennedy
Jr. and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, children of the late senator.
Other signatories include G. Robert Blakey, the
chief counsel of the House Select Committee on Assassinations, which determined
in 1979 that President Kennedy was the victim of a probable conspiracy; Dr.
Robert McClelland, one of the surgeons at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas
who tried to save President Kennedy’s life and saw clear evidence he had been
struck by bullets from the front and the rear; Daniel Ellsberg, the Pentagon Papers
whistleblower who served as a national security advisor to the Kennedy White
House; Richard Falk, professor emeritus of international law at Princeton
University and a leading global authority on human rights; Hollywood artists
Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen, Rob Reiner and Oliver Stone; political satirist
Mort Sahl; and musician David Crosby.
The declaration is also signed by numerous
historians, journalists, lawyers and other experts on the four major
assassinations.
The joint statement calls for Congress to establish
firm oversight on the releaseof all government documents related to the
Kennedy presidency and assassination, as mandated by the JFK Records Collection
Act of 1992. 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.
The group statement also calls for a public inquest
into “the four major assassinations of the 1960s that together had a disastrous
impact on the course of American history.” This tribunal -- which would hear
testimony from living witnesses, legal experts, investigative journalists,
historians and family members of the victims -- 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.
Signers of the joint statement, who call themselves
the Truth and Reconciliation Committee, are also seeking to reopen the Robert
F. Kennedy assassination case, stating that Sirhan Sirhan’s conviction was based
on “a mockery of a trial.” The forensic evidence alone, observes the statement,
demonstrates that Sirhan did not fire the fatal shot that killed Senator
Kennedy -- a conclusion reached by, among others, Dr. Thomas Noguchi, the Los
Angeles County Coroner who performed the official autopsy on RFK.
The joint statement -- which was co-written by Adam
Walinsky, a speechwriter and top aide of Senator Kennedy -- declares that these
“four major political murders traumatized American life in the
1960s and 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.”
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’s democratic
decline, a reign of secretive power that long precedes the recent rise of
authoritarianism. “The organized killing of JFK, Malcolm, Martin, and RFK was a
mortal attack on our democracy,” said historian James Douglass, author
of JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters. “We've been
walking in the valley of the dead ever since. Our campaign is all about
recovering the truth embodied in the movement they led. Yes, the
transforming, reconciling power of truth will indeed set us free."
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The Truth and Reconciliation Committee’s Calls for
Action:
1. 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's failure to enforce the JFK Records
Act.
2. 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 --
which will hear testimony from living witnesses, legal experts, investigative
journalists, historians and family members of the victims -- is intended to
show the need for Congress or the Justice Department to reopen investigations
into all four assassinations.
3. On Martin Luther King Jr.
Day, we call for a full investigation of Reverend King’s 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’s family placing
blame on government agencies and organized crime elements. Following the verdict,
Coretta Scott King, the slain leader’s widow, stated: “There is abundant
evidence of a major, high-level conspiracy in the assassination of my husband.”
The jury in the Memphis trial determined that various federal, state and local
agencies “were deeply involved in the assassination … Mr. Ray was set up to
take the blame.” Reverend King’s assassination was the culmination of years of
mounting surveillance and harassment directed at the human rights leader by J.
Edgar Hoover’s FBI and other agencies.
4. 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 -- 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–blank range from the
rear. Consequently, the case should be reopened for a new comprehensive
investigation while there are still living witnesses -- as there are in all
four assassination cases.
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