FBI honors MLK Jr. Day by celebrating man they gaslit, surveilled, tried to drive to suicide

Thom Dunn 9:38 am Mon Jan 20, 2020

The time is always right to do what is right, that's true. But the timing of this is a pretty ugly retcon—especially after a new trove of FBI files on Martin Luther King, Jr. were just released six months ago, painting an ugly picture of frequent sexual misconduct.

Today, the FBI honors the life and work of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A quote from Dr. King is etched in stone at the FBI Academy's reflection garden in Quantico as a reminder to all students and FBI employees: "The time is always right to do what is right." #MLKDay pic.twitter.com/UKMLAAZw5w

— FBI (@FBI) January 20, 2020

But even if we ignore these most salacious allegations, the fact of the matter is that the FBI still wiretapped King, and wrote him anonymous letters encouraging him to kill himself.

A letter to Martin Luther King, Jr. from the FBI Archives

Their motivation in this letter was not to end or seek justice for his alleged sexual misconduct. They just wanted to discredit him and the entire Civil Rights Movement, in keeping with their usual patriotic duty to uphold the status quo at any cost.

Regardless of the FBI's blatant hypocrisy — or whatever truth might be contained within those allegations — it's still worth reading King's, "Letter From a Birmingham Jail."

Image via Wikimedia Commons

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