• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

‘Dr.’ Pepper And The MLK Assassination

Walter Ego

Illuminator
Walter Ego
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
3,377
Location
Dixie
This April marks both the 40th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King and the 10th anniversary of the death of Dr. King’s assassin James Earl Ray.

CNN tonight had a two hour special tonight about James Earl Ray and the MLK assassination. The last half hour dealt with, and dismissed, conspiracy theories promoted by one Mr. William F. Pepper. Pepper, a lawyer who, bizarrely, represented both Ray and the King family in court cases has hopped on the 9-11 truth bandwagon recently.

(For some reason, Pepper is referred to as ‘Dr.’ Pepper on 911 Blogger though I can find no evidence of a doctoral degree.)

Pepper’s 1995 book Orders To Kill details the ‘conspiracy’ in which Ray was the mere patsy of the mysterious CIA operative Raoul. (Like most imaginary people, Raoul was only visible to the person who insisted he really did exist.)

The CNN program is being repeated right now in the eastern time zone in the U.S and will probably be shown again this weekend.

(I have more material on the execrable Wm. Pepper that I will post later on this thread.)
 
Last edited:
Gerald Posner Pwns Dr. Pepper

Charlie Rose: April 23, 1998 (Death of James Earl Ray on this date)

A conversation with Gerald Posner about his book "Killing the Dream: James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr." and Clayborne Carson of Stanford University and director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Project, about King's legacy in light of the death of James Earl Ray, the convict who confessed to the murder and then recanted.

13:00 Posner: 'The King family wants 'A new investigation with a different result.'

15:00 Posner discusses William Pepper and 'Raoul'

Google Video This video is not hosted by the ISF, the ISF can not be held responsible for the suitability or legality of this material. By clicking the link below you agree to view content from an external website.
I AGREE


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4617040815555121048

---------
Posner: The Truth About Memphis

The Ray [defense] team spent two years harassing [the innocent man they accused of being Raoul] with video and camera surveillance and repeated telephone calls to his home. They even named him in a lawsuit that was eventually dismissed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/mlk/memphis/memphis.htm
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Time Magazine

May 4, 1998
James Earl Ray, Cause Celebre?
By Jack E. White

Bill Clinton must really have it in for Janet Reno. Why else would the President saddle the Attorney General with the thankless task of reviewing "new evidence" presented by the family of Martin Luther King Jr. about his assassination 30 years ago? The King family claims that convicted assassin James Earl Ray, who died last week, was just a fall guy caught up in a sweeping conspiracy that included then President Lyndon Johnson, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, J. Edgar Hoover, several army units, organized crime figures, the owner of a Memphis diner and, one presumes, space aliens. Talk about a no-win situation. If Reno decides the allegations merit creation of the new "truth" commission the family wants, she is giving credence to outlandish conspiracy theories. If she concludes there is no cause for a new probe, she is sure to be painted as part of a cover-up. Either outcome would be a mess and tragically unnecessary.

Let's get this much straight: the King family has offered not a shred of credible evidence to support their charges of a wide-ranging government conspiracy. Absolutely none. What they serve up instead is a murky brew of truths, quarter-truths and outright lies assembled by the latest in a long string of Ray defense lawyers: one William Pepper, who is either a credulous buffoon or a con artist. To promote himself and his book on the alleged conspiracy, Pepper has exploited the King family's understandable desire to learn the full truth. Pepper's de facto accomplice is Phillip Jones, an old friend of Dexter King's, the martyred leader's son who heads the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta. Jones' firm, Intellectual Properties Management, is responsible for marketing the Rev. King's writings and speeches. With Jones' help, King's relatives have made deals that could net them and their agents tens of millions of dollars: one deal with Hollywood conspiracist Oliver Stone for a film about the assassination; another with Time Warner, this magazine's owner, for a series of books and multimedia projects. Neither Pepper nor Jones wants the controversy about King's death to end. They've got an investment in it.

http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,988269,00.html
Click to expand...

United States Department of Justice
Investigation of Recent Allegations
Regarding the Assassination of
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

June 2000

http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/crim/mlk/part1.htm#toc
 
Two figures loom over the way in which the [King family] have succeeded in making themselves into national laughingstocks. The first is [William] Pepper, Ray's lawyer, whose outlandish claims of government involvement in King's slaying have been disproven and destroyed by both ABC News' "Turning Point" and CBS News' "48 Hours." The Memphis district attorney's report highlights "the pervasive mention of monetary reward that key witnesses relied upon by Dr. Pepper refer to in their statements." In the current Time magazine, longtime civil rights journalist Jack E. White accurately characterizes Pepper as "either a credulous buffoon or a con artist." Most people who've seen Pepper's work up close would vote for the second.


http://www.salon.com/news/1998/04/28news2.html

--------
TURNING POINT, ABC Television, June 19, 1997
Who Shot Martin Luther King Jr.?

If it is possible to blow up a conspiracy theory with facts, ''Who Shot Martin Luther King Jr.?'' should explode the argument that King was killed in 1968 on orders of the United States Government. That claim, promoted by William F. Pepper, the lawyer for James Earl Ray, who is serving a life sentence for the murder, has recently been subscribed to by King's wife and children.

In the hour's dramatic conclusion, Forrest Sawyer confronts Mr. Pepper with a former Army colonel who, he has charged, led the sniper team and was then assassinated as part of a cover-up. The lawyer seems nonplused. He acknowledges that ''maybe I was provided with wrong information.''


http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9504E0DA173EF93AA25755C0A961958260

-------
As Pepper’s former investigator, Ken Herman, told BBC documentary makers, “Pepper is the most gullible person I have ever met in my life”.

As visiting scholar at the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, David Greenburg, wrote, "Despite multiple debunking these (conspiracy) fantasies endure…a crackpot named William F. Pepper has convinced King's entire family that the U.S. Government, including President Lyndon Johnson, was responsible for his death…Conspiracists adopt the trappings of scholarship, touting irrelevant titles and credentials. They burrow into the arcana of their topics and inundate potential acolytes with a barrage of pedantic detail. Rather than build a case from evidence, conspiracists deny the available evidence, maintaining that appearances deceive. Rather than admit to inconvenient facts, they dismiss them as lies, making their own theories irrefutable."

http://crimemagazine.com/05/martinlutherking,0612-5.htm
 
Last edited:
Its tragic that King's family has traded in his legacy for this cheap paranoia. The good they could have done in his name...instead they play this game.
 
I have a feeling Dr. King is turning over in his grave at the way his family are making fools of themselves.
As for "Dr.Pepper" I much prefer the soft drink to the Wackjob CT.
 
Last edited:
Walter Ego said:
(For some reason, Pepper is referred to as ‘Dr.’ Pepper on 911 Blogger though I can find no evidence of a doctoral degree.)
Click to expand...

Allthough lawyers don't generally call themselves "Dr.", isn't a law degree technically a doctorate? Juris Doctor?

He could also have been given an honorary doctorate, and, although it's considered in bad taste to call yourself "Doctor", if that's your only doctorate, that doesn't stop others, especially fans, from doing so.
 
Beerina said:
Allthough lawyers don't generally call themselves "Dr.", isn't a law degree technically a doctorate? Juris Doctor?

He could also have been given an honorary doctorate, and, although it's considered in bad taste to call yourself "Doctor", if that's your only doctorate, that doesn't stop others, especially fans, from doing so.
Click to expand...

It's a minor issue but, yes, his 'fans' would like the authority of the title 'Dr.' even if it was only an honorific.
 
Well, you know it's true if Spooked is posting about it. (And by posting, I mean copying and pasting the words of his 'Anonymous Physicist')....

My favorite part of the analysis:

On April 4, 1968, King was assassinated. This was one year to the day of his first anti-Vietnam War speech; and a clear cut message that if you try to hinder or stop the war machine, you will soon be dead.
Click to expand...

Nothin' quite like those efficient gubmint war machine black-suits taking an entire year to silence one man.
 
I saw the Marting Luther King Jr. conspiracy theory today on Conspiracy Test. I remember William Pepper saying that there was to much evidence pointing to James Earl Ray, so it must have been planted. On a side note, Jude Joe Brown also jumped on the Marting Luther King woo train.
 
Walter Ego said:
CNN tonight had a two hour special tonight about James Earl Ray and the MLK assassination. The last half hour dealt with, and dismissed, conspiracy theories promoted by one Mr. William F. Pepper. Pepper, a lawyer who, bizarrely, represented both Ray and the King family in court cases has hopped on the 9-11 truth bandwagon recently.
Click to expand...

**bump**

The CNN program is on again tonight. The CT segment with Pepper is in the last half hour of the two hour show.
 
I was at my parents house for the day when this speical came on. I thought oh f-word here we go again CNN is going to place the blame on the FBI or CIA. However, the special was quite thought provoking and a real look into why black people remain so paranoid.


My Dad had the funnest line of night. He said: I take it Raoul was like James Earl Ray's tyler durden.
 
Last edited:
kookbreaker said:
Its tragic that King's family has traded in his legacy for this cheap paranoia. The good they could have done in his name...instead they play this game.
Click to expand...

................................................................
 
All of the strange conspiracy theories aside....
I've been searching the internet for the actual evidence against Ray.
My home base came up in the seach and this is where I wound up.
It is probably going to take more time than I have to spend to find out what the States case against Ray consisted of.
I'm not sure if it is good or bad that all of the information I can find is debunking of weird government involvment allogations.
 
NM

Rifle with fingerprints. (All that they needed for a warrant)
No ballisitcs data.
No proof that he bought it.

Binoculars with fingerprints.

Newspaper with fingerprints that said where MLK would be staying that day.
Best of all is that they tracked him following MLK for 2 weeks.

Not to mention the history of Ray being a dumb criminal and that he would probably leave that stuff where they found it.

Not a strong case, but sufficient.
 
Moved to general CT - this isn't a 9/11 conspiracy thread.
Replying to this modbox in thread will be off topic  Posted By: jmercer
 
I feel like filing an anti-defamation suit on behalf of "Dr Pepper", beloved soft drink and source of not-quite-cola-level caffeine for generations!

Of course, they'll probably get off by pointing out that the soda does not use a period after the "Dr" and "Dr. Pepper" the whackjob does use one.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom