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Congress member Karen Bass 116th Congress Chairwoman Congressional Black Caucus 37th Congressional District California Madam Chairwoman, Come this 10th day November 2020, John Burl Smith to the Congressional Black Caucus requesting a partition be made to Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Madam Nancy Pelosi, to call a vote of the US House of Representative to unseal and open to the public the 1978 investigation report into the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The US House of Representatives has voted on two separate occasions 1978 and 2003 to seal that report and hide the uncovered facts regarding Dr. King, Jr.’s assassination. To date, the truth of Dr. King’s assassination was hidden from the public for 52 years. No other event in the United States’ history has been locked away so long in secrecy as Dr. King’s assassination. Hiding the truth of the murder of such an illustrious leader, the US House of Representatives has not only imperiled democracy, but the legitimacy of its claim that the United States of America is a nation that guarantees free speech. Below I outline the case of African Americans’ demand that the report detailing the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. be unsealed expeditiously!!! Getting the Truth Out of Jail in America! Arish “King” Khan created the Tarot-Rism platform at rrbs.org. so that viewers could learn the truth that his Black Power Tarot Art Exhibition is bringing to the world. Back in 2017, I shared that over 50 years ago, I testified before the US House of Representatives committee investigating the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with Arish. However, before the American public learned the truth of that investigation, the US House of Representatives locked it in a government vault. The House committee told the American people what it wanted them to know, but with the report on lockdown, there weren’t any means to verify whether what we said were lies or the truth. While on tour in Europe with “King” Khan’s Black Power Tarot Art Exhibition, in 2017, we kicked off the effort to expose the treachery of the US House of Representatives by trying to get the truth out of jail in America. In the interest of truth, change, and social justice, last October, “King” Khan created a u-tube podcast “TAROT-RISM.” Using TAROT-RISM, we are getting the word out about why Dr. King launching the “Poor People’s Campaign” like a juggernaut to bring the demand for a “guaranteed income” for poor families before world audiences. The travesty committed by the US House of Representatives by locking up truth denied black people knowledge of the US government’s role in Dr. King’s murder. I make this statement because Charles “Cab” Cabbage and I were the only two black power activists subpoenaed to testify before the House committee. As such, investigators shared background information about FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI’s involvement as we prepared to speak to the committee. Shockingly, the committee voted to lock the evidence up about Hoover and the FBI’s spy programs and other efforts to destroy Dr. King’s reputation. Hoover used the same tactics to deport Marcus Garvey in 1925. Episode 3 began the podcast; by presenting Dr. King’s legacy, laying the foundation for the deadly plot that culminated in his last year of life and final strategy meeting with the Invaders (4-4-1968). Episode 4 discussed circumstances and presented information preceding Dr. King launched the “Poor People’s Campaign.” This discussion looks at the pressure tactics Hoover applied to try and force Dr. King to call it off. Episode 5 details some events that preceded his assassination on April 4, 1968. We highlight Dr. King’s change in strategy once Hoover boxed him in and before he encounters the Invaders. These events are crucial to Dr. King’s last days. Dr. King confided that he had shifted his plan from marching a million people to Washington D. C. when he met with the Invaders on the evening of his last day. His new strategy left black people in place in their cities. If we joined his effort, Dr. King wanted the Invaders to recruit other black power groups from the 16 largest cities across America to mount demonstrations simultaneously with his protests in Washington D. C. He believed this would be an even more significant show of force to the US Congress. Dr. King’s change in strategy was due to the huge turnout for his last march with the striking workers on the 28th of March 1968. ended in a police riot, the FBI blamed on the Invaders. That march not only gave Dr. King a new strategy but brought him and the Invaders together for the first time in Dr. King’s final strategy meeting. Moreover, discussing Dr. King’s “The Three Evils of Society” speech (episode 4), as I was one of those in that last meeting, memories from Dr. King’s comments returned. That speech revived memories of his remarks from that final day. Things I’d forgotten because time and event erased them, particularly a—guaranteed income—for poor families. That subject was scrubbed from not only my memory but the American society’s as well. Most people’s memories or image of Dr. King is based on his many speeches including “I have a Dream,” The Drum Major Instinct, Why I am Oppose to the Vietnam War and his so-called “Mountain Top” speeches, but his “The Three Evils of Society” speech was never publicized; therefore it never entered Americans consciousness. However, the purge of his “Poor People’s Campaign” from memory, following his assassination, was no accidental occurrence because it covered over Dr. King’s major purpose—a guaranteed Income—for poor families. I continue this point in episode 6, reminding viewers of Dr. King’s most familiar speeches, which reflect his growth from a very youthful idealistic civil rights activist, who evolved into a national leader and the African American community’s most eloquent and dynamic spokesman. However, following his very abrupt and equally traumatic assassination, J. Edgar Hoover, with support from the news media and white conservative politicians, rushed the nation towards a snap judgment regarding why Dr. King was murdered and offered a quick acceptance of the killer, as one lone racist and white man driven by hatred. Episode 7 explains why the rush to judgment, from their perspective—Hoover, news media, and white politicians—eliminated any need to examine thoroughly implications of Dr. King’s assassination. This cabal downplayed any need to discuss the political ramifications, particularly the federal government’s involvement in Dr. King’s murder. Nevertheless, black activists continued pushing for an investigation. Consequently, the US House of Representatives reluctantly ordered a Congressional investigation in 1978. However, as I said earlier, the conservative white-controlled House of Representatives voted to seal the investigation’s finding, preventing the release of any facts related to the public. Government secrecy locked the truth in jail. Episode 8 looks back at what the federal government did to stop the “Poor People’s Champaign” and Dr. King’s effort to put the need for a “guaranteed income” for poor families before the Congress, the nation and the world. The federal government’s (Hoover and FBI) misdirection of public attention away from the murder plot was the hold idea. Consequently, episode 9 discusses why the US House of Representatives was unwilling to provide an opportunity for the public to learn what it uncovered during its investigation. Instead, it offered James Earl Rey, “red herring,” which drew attention away from the poor and their need for a “guaranteed income.” Locking the truth in jail, the House of Representatives failed the American people. Their decision put justice on a scale weighted to favor those with hidden agendas, power, and wealth. With their rush to judgment regarding Dr. King’s assassination, the US House of Representatives locked the investigation report up to protect the most powerful man in government—J. Edgar Hoover. Drawing everyone’s attention away from the “Poor People’s Campaign” ensured the American public would not see through Hoover’s and the media’s murder of the “guaranteed income,” which was the real target. They used a deluge of anti-war protests headlines and Richard Nixon’s “law and order” attack on black power while fueling an angry white backlash against the poor, and definitely against any talk of a “guaranteed income.” Why else would the truth still be in jail, as the black man who stole hedge clippers? Getting to the bottom of this plot requires a hard u-turn back to the Memphis sanitation strike, which most people today have no idea why or how it happened. First, civil rights leaders who supported Dr. King during his many marches were not fully supportive of taking a million poor people to Washington, D. C., as the “Poor People’s Campaign.” Moreover, they did not want to fight a war with the federal government on behalf of the poor. Once he announced the “Poor People’s Campaign” and did not get help from civil rights leaders, frustrated, Dr. King delivered the Drum Major Instinct sermon. His sermon was directed at civil rights leaders, who were not supporting his poor people’s strategy. Dr. King declared, “I will proceed with the “Poor People’s Campaign,” even if I have to do it alone!” J. Edgar Hoover and the federal government’s operation against Dr. King is outlined in the “Arkin Report.” It was obtained through a court order and begins “FBI LHM dated 5-6-68 [TO: DIRECTOR, FBI (157-8460)] FROM: SAC, MEMPHIS (157-1067). The Arkin Report clearly outlines FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover’s plot to prevent the “Poor People’s Campaign” from reaching Washington D. C. His spy operation was very substantial. Hoover hired informants bought those he could that worked with Dr. King, and deployed four different spy operations including Co-Intel-Pro to surveil Dr. King’s every move. Hoover also enlisted America’s media to spread disinformation about Dr. King and the “Poor People’s Campaign.” Hoover’s real aim was to divert attention away from Dr. King’s demand to give poor American families a “guaranteed income.” Hoover’s sabotage and disinformation operation boxed Dr. King in and isolated him, so he preached the “Drum Major Instinct” sermon. However, unexpectedly in Memphis, sanitation workers walk out on strike. The sanitation workers were the poorest of the poor and a perfect demonstration population for Dr. King. But, the conservative Negro leadership in Memphis was like civil rights leaders elsewhere that did not want to put their reputations on the line for poop people. Again, another convoluted recapitulation is necessary to frame the situation and reveal the critical issues Dr. King faced, trying to help sanitation workers. Most importantly, he had never worked in Memphis, so he had no real allies. Negro leaders were very conservative regarding civil rights. While white conservative leaders kept a very tight grip on black people’s political and economic development. Unlike most southern cities, during the sit-in and freedom ride eras, Memphis was very calm, considering Memphis’ Negro leaders were all “Uncle Toms” no matter the way they spoke. Memphis was the economical capitol of Arkansas, Mississippi, and West Tennessee. It was the world’s largest inland cotton market. Cotton was king, which meant the slave master mindset operated as though emancipation never happened. Negro leaders gained their status by accepting the dictates and handouts of white leadership during integration in Memphis. Hence, Negros never developed close relationships among civil rights leaders across America. Concession blacks received from white leaders were like “handouts,” so Negros leaders never developed enough backbone to stand up and demand anything!!! This proposition changed somewhat in l965 when Rev. James Lawson became pastor of Centenary Methodist Church in 1962. Lawson was a civil rights activist from Nashville. He was active in Freedom Rides, the March on Washington, Freedom Summer, Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, Children’s Crusade in Birmingham, 1965 Selma Voting Rights Movement, Chicago Freedom Movement, and the Anti-Vietnam War Movement, all of which eluded Memphis. A long story made short; by 1962, Rev. Lawson and Dr. King had become acquaintances. So, once the sanitation strike hit the news, Dr. King saw it as a way to break out of Hoover’s box. The sanitation strike was a perfect platform for both the “Poor People’s Campaign” and striking workers if only he could join that effort. The sanitation strike presented unique circumstances for everybody and the nexus for why the black union's history and the red neck city leaders dictated the course the strike took from its beginning. The dilemma for the sanitation worker was they had a union in name only. The city refused to recognize it and deduct dews from workers' checks—dews check-off. Once sanitation workers walked off the job, Mayor Henry Loeb went to Chancery Court and got an injunction against the strike. The judge ruled the strike illegal and issued an order preventing union leaders from participation in demonstration or civil disobedience tactics, under the threat of huge fines. A point needs to be made about the all-black workforce; they were paid $1.75 an hour. Most were uneducated and unsophisticated politically. They were without leadership, direction, and resources; they did not have any change fighting the city alone. Negro leaders organized a committee—Committee On the Move for Equality (C.O.M.E.)—to helped workers during the strike, and Rev. Lawson was made chairman. The conservative nature of Memphis political structure came into play effect at this point against Dr. King, once Rev. Lawson learned he wanted to help in Memphis. Local Negro leaders cried foul. They charged Dr. King would hog the spotlight. Moreover, he had not come to Memphis to help them with other civil rights efforts. So, Rev. Lawson held Dr. King off by telling him, “They were searching for the best time to bring him into the strike.” The Invaders entered the strike after attending several meetings at Clayborn Temple Church. Along with Oree McKinize, Charles Ballard, Verdell “Gee” Brooks, and Charles “Izzy” Harrington, we tried to help. I realized early on Loeb’s aim was to force strikers to return to work on his promise to deal with their grievances. Loeb issued an ultimatum to return to work or be fired. This ultimatum meant workers had to trust Loeb, who had proven to be a liar. After talking with workers several nights, I became convinced they didn’t trust Loeb, but saw no alternative to going along with C.O.M.E.’s recommendation to “trust” Loeb and return to work. I saw our activism as insurgent. While in the Air Force, before going to Vietnam, we were given counter-insurgency training. We were not in the jungle, like VC but we knew our neighborhoods, as well as the VC knew their jungle. I planned to keep first responders from relaxing, trying to stop activists they could not catch. Once striking workers refused to return to work, Loeb fired all workers and hired scabs to replace them. I began organizing the young people who came to the nightly meetings; most were children of sanitation workers and their friends. Although they were in high school, they said they wanted to help their fathers and brothers. First, they accepted my suggestion not to allow garbage trucks to roll through their communities unmolested. They should throw bricks and bottles at scabs workers and disappear in the neighborhoods. Also, they should call friends at other schools and get their help. Students followed my instructions all across the city. With that, Loeb declared a “state of emergency,” assigning police cars to guard garbage trucks and placed police and firemen on 24-hour duty. These young activists showed real commitment and wanted to do even more. Using an abundance of caution, I told them to pull alarms to draw fire units to their schools. Once fire trucks arrived, pelt them with rocks, and go back into school. Their militancy and activism had Loeb breathing fire at C.O.M.E. leaders, during their nightly get-togethers at city hall, after meeting with striking workers at Clayborn Temple. Loeb insisted if they could not get strikers to return to work, he would get leaders that could. We began using traffic stops tactics at intersections. Most major streets leading to downtown passed through black neighborhoods, so students blocked intersections during drive time with protests, signs, or garbage cans. Calls to city hall and the newspaper made Loeb intensify his state of emergency, with even more police. He thought his show of force would intimidate the children of workers; instead, it lifted workers' morale and strengthened their children's resolve. Then things got really hot. C.O.M.E. leaders began using militant rhetoric, during meeting to compete with the Invaders, saying things like, “We can burn Memphis, like other cities that had riots, if Loeb doesn’t meet striking workers’ demands.” So, I produced a newsletter with a diagram showing how to make a Molotov cocktail, and passed them out during a meeting while preachers in church talked about “burning Memphis.” Activists began firebombing white businesses and rental property in the black community. We filled old tires with gasoline, lit and rolled them into grassy areas, blocked streets with dumpsters and garbage cans, and set them afire. We created havoc while keeping first responder on the move and not resting day or night. C.O.M.E. tried desperately to get workers to accept Loeb’s promise of recognizing their union, if they return to work first, he will grant dews check-off. When they made their appeal, I shouted from the floor, “This is no deal. It is a sellout. Workers could not trust Loeb. He lied before and is lying now.” Workers voted to stay out each time. My strategy worked because the city was not fighting individuals but families. People allowed activists to hide in their homes to avoid police after street attacks. Next, C.O.M.E. moved the nightly meeting to the Rubber Workers Union Hall on the other side of town, without notice to the community. C.O.M.E. brought AFSCME Union (1733) President Jerry Wurf to town for a secret meeting with workers for a vote to go back to work. Some sanitation workers came to my apartment to tell us what was up and took us to the meeting, but were told only Union members could enter. Before leaving, a worker showed us a side door and said he would let us in. Wurf was trying to get workers to accept Loeb’s deal because the union had received what it wanted—dews check-off—but the worker had not gotten anything. So I shout from the floor, “You have gotten your deal with dews check-off, and now you are selling these men out. You know Loeb cannot be trusted.” Arms guards escorted us from the meeting, but workers voted to stay out. Striking workers voted to continue their strike, which put C.O.M.E.’s back against the wall, so they finally voted to bring Dr. King to town as a counter-eight to the Invaders. However, that gambit blew up in C.O.M.E.’s collective face because Dr. King brought an even sharper radical edge to the strike than any Invaders tactics. During his first visit and speech, Dr. King called for a general strike of all workers in Memphis and students not to attend school on the day of the march. Following the call for a general, Dr. King said he would lead that march to City Hall, if strikers wanted, and they went wild with cheers. However, more than anything, this allowed Dr. King to break out of J. Edgar Hoover’s box, and he began openly talking about a “guaranteed income” for poor families. Hoover’s efforts to stop Dr. King went into overdrive in Memphis. C.O.M.E. shut the Invaders out of its meeting and plans entirely. Gathering at my apartment, we discussed how best to help workers and decided to concentrate on impressing Dr. King with our organizing ability. Cab’s idea was to set up teams to go over into Arkansas, up into West Tennessee, and down into Mississippi, recruiting college and high school students to come to Memphis and bring their parents to hear the number one black leader in America speak. The evening before the big march, we met and decided how to approach the march because we had received information that we would get blamed for any trouble during the march. Coby received information from a female friend, whose boyfriend was a policeman. She told Coby they had been given pictures of him and Cab, with orders the shoot them on sight. They decided not to attend the march. Cab said Invaders could attend if they wanted as individuals, but not as a group. Initially, I decided, as Cab and Coby, but the next morning, there was no way I was going to sit this one out. I did not want to hear what went down; I had to see for myself. My regular crew Izzy, Ballard, Gee, and Oree arrived with me downtown to see the street in front of Clayborn Temple and all side streets packed with the overflow, as people converged on the church like ants zeroing in on a picnic. Waiting for Dr. King’s arrival from the airport, the throne continued growing (radio station WLOK’s Art Gilliam estimated attendance at 50,000). The precession began late and was moving up Beale Street when Dr. King arrived and to take his place at the head of the march. After turning onto Main Street, there was a police contingent, three rows deep, about 60, arrayed across Main Street, with outstretched hands and raised billy clubs, blocking Dr. King from advancing toward city hall. Meanwhile, people at the rear of the march had no idea what was happening up on Main Street. So, their surge was pushing Dr. King, who was on the front rank, closer and closer to police with raised billy clubs. Although not intended to rescue Dr. King, a policeman pushed a black man against a plate glass window, swinging his club in an attempt to hit him, the guy ducked, and the cop smashed the window. The sudden loud explosive sound “boomed,” ricocheting through downtown, like a bomb, and all hell broke loose. Police at the cross streets on Beale, where we were, began attacking marchers. Sanitation workers carrying signs mounted on 4ft sticks, which said I AM A MAN, tore them off and began fighting the police. Women, children, and elderly ran for their lives while we battled police, as they push us back toward Clayborn Temple. The women, children, and elderly took refuge in the church, but police teargassed it and beat people inside. We caught a ride back to Riverside and waited for others to arrive. Calvin Taylor brought a message from Dr. King, requesting to meet with the Invaders. He, Cab, Izzy, Ballard, and Oree went to the Rivermont Hotel and met with Dr. King. During that meeting, Dr. King said, “C.O.M.E. lied to me by taking credit for what I know now was Invaders work in the streets and schools. And had I known about the Invaders when I arrived, you would have been the first I met with.” He told Cab, “I am going back to Atlanta, but when I return on April 3rd, I wanted to meet with the Invaders. On April 3rd, Dr. King returned and gave his now-famous “Mountain Top” speech. Later that night, he met with Cab, Edwina Harrell, and Clifford Taylor. Cab gave Dr. King a copy of the Invaders “Community Unification Program” (CUP). Dr. King put Andy Young in charge of helping Cab rewrite it. The next morning Dr. King met with about 15 Invaders and gave his commitment to getting funding for CUP if we gave our commitment to helping him with the “Poor People’s Campaign.” We adjoined to our room (315 and 316) to discuss the deal, but I insisted we needed more than Dr. King’s word, because during the week while he was in Atlanta, SCLC staffers made the round of news shows. They attacked the Invaders, claiming “the Invaders started the riot to destroy Dr. King’s reputation as ‘the one civil rights leaders.’” Cab and I went to Dr. King’s room (306) to get a guarantee he would not turn his back on the Invaders once SCLC left Memphis. We talked for about an hour before Dr. King called the “National Council of Church,” the group before which he gave “The Three Evils of Society” speech. They authorized giving the Invaders a promissory note, a personal check, of $10,000, to underwrite CUP. Dr. King emphasized we were not to cash the check; it would stand until CUP’s funding was arranged. The Invaders gave Dr. King our commitment to his new strategy and would recruit other black power groups for the “Poor People’s Campaign” and a “guaranteed income” for poor families. Less than an hour after the Invaders made their commitments to Dr. King, an assassin killed him. The Invaders’ promises to Dr. King are why Arish and I are determined to get the truth out of jail in America. That assassins’ bullet ended more than one man’s life. The political implications of what I have detailed in this partition cries out for answers that are contained in the US House of Representatives Assassination Investigation Report. Those sitting in Congress today, as well as the American people, need to know what their government did to stop Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s effort to get a “guaranteed income” for poor Americans families. During these challenging times today, with the US Representatives trying to save America’s democracy must let the truth out of jail. Until it sets the truth free, the threat of Donald Trump’s white militia groups, which boldly plotted to kidnaped and murder a sitting governor, no leader is safe in America, when the government can get away with locking up the truth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination for 52 years, while telling black people lies. Arish Khan and I believe 52 years are long enough for a lie to run free. (The 400th From Slavery to Hip Hop provides a more extensive discussion on sale now Amazon, Kindle and Barnes and Nobles)