Friday 5 April 2013

james earl ray forgotten footage



This is pretty amazing footage that has just been unearthed after 45 years.  Not for the quality of the film, but for the historical significance.
It shows the killer of Martin Luther King, James Earl Ray, being taken into custody, and strip searched.  Potential jurors are also filmed, but these turned out not be be needed, due to Earl Ray pleading guilty.
It would have been better if this had been posted yesterday, as it was the anniversary of Dr King's death, but it's still a fascinating document of America's not so distant (and racist) past.
I still think George Wallace, the right wing politician and racist politician should take a lot of responsibility for what he had been preaching, as this encourages fanatics and idiots, but l suppose he got shot and paralyzed in a 1972 assassination attempt, so it's all Yin and Yang, cause and effect etc, even if he later renounced his views.
In related news, l been past The Lorraine Motel (now known as The National Civil rights Museum), where Dr King was shot, and witnessed and support what Jacqueline Smith is protesting about outside.  That is, the gentrification of the area, which resulted in pricing out the locals, and the wrong use of the motel as a museum, rather than as a clinic or college.  She used to live in the motel, and was the last person the leave it,
and has been protesting outside for the last 20 years or so, and good luck to her (although the money always talks, so l think she is on to a lost cause).


toodle pip

No comments: