The documents have been under court-imposed seal since 1977.
The release of the records marks a promise kept from President Donald Trump, who along the campaign trail promised to release records regarding the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, as well as King's. Over 200,000 documents were released on King on Monday, per the Associated Press.
The files include FBI memos, CIA intelligence on King, as well as his assassination in 1968. King's family cautioned the public over the release of the files, with two living children putting out in a statement on Monday.
"As the children of Dr. King and Mrs. Coretta Scott King, his tragic death has been an intensely personal grief — a devastating loss for his wife, children, and the granddaughter he never met -- an absence our family has endured for over 57 years," they said. “We ask those who engage with the release of these files to do so with empathy, restraint, and respect for our family’s continuing grief.”
The family also said that the files should be "viewed within their full historical context." Bernice King was five years old at the time her father was killed, and Martin Luther King III was 10. The records were initially going to be sealed until 2027, but the DOJ asked a federal judge to lift the seal ahead of the date.
The civil rights leader was of high interest to intelligence agencies, and "was relentlessly targeted by an invasive, predatory, and deeply disturbing disinformation and surveillance campaign orchestrated by J. Edgar Hoover through the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)," the King children added in their statement.
“The intent of the government’s COINTELPRO campaign was not only to monitor, but to discredit, dismantle and destroy Dr. King’s reputation and the broader American Civil Rights Movement,” they added. “These actions were not only invasions of privacy, but intentional assaults on the truth — undermining the dignity and freedoms of private citizens who fought for justice, designed to neutralize those who dared to challenge the status quo.”
King was assassinated in 1968 while he was in Memphis, Tennessee. James Earl Ray pleaded guilty, but renounced the plea and maintained that he was innocent until his death in 1998. Some have questioned whether or not Ray acted alone in the killing.
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