JACKSON RETURNS TO MEMPHIS SITE WHERE DR. KING WAS SHOT DOWN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000303030011-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 21, 2010
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: May 1, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/21 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000303030011-2
N_h' Y0?J: TI??S
1 -!ay 19E
reau of Investigation had attempted to
? imrupt, discredcredpugn his character and divide his
Jackson Returns to Memphis Site ~fa , isE.I.sawasits role toais-
it or destroy a "black
messiah," he said.
~tWTh ere Dr. King Was Sho t Down "Given the fact that the C.I.A. v~zll
E. mine harbors and overthrow govern.
By FAY S. JOYCE
Specs! to The New York Time
MEMPHIS, April 30 - On this
bright, cool morning, as birds sang and
Secret Service agents scanned sur-
ro,anding buildings, the Rev. -Jesse,
Jackson returned to the spot where the
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was
gunned down 16 years ago.
The Democratic Presidential candi-
date recalled bow he was standing in
the parking lot of the Lorraine Motel
that day when he heard the crackle of
gunfire and looked up to the second
floor balcony to. see the civil rights
leader bleeding.
He said he and other King aides
raced up the concrete steps to find their
hero dying.
W+'e hoped it was his arm, but the
bu:le: hit him in the neck," Mr. jack-
SOn said matter of factly as he placed a
finger at the base of his own throat.
Return to Room 306
Today the Democrat led reporters
and a small crowd of supporters up the
stairs to the balcony outside Room 306,
where Dr. King was staying when he
was killed on April 4, 1?58.
"This is the scene of the crucifi)don,"
he said. "Now we ask the Master to roll
the stone away and let us have the
resurrection tomorrow."
The Tennessee primary' takes place
Tuesday. Mr. Jackson said, however,
that his visit was "not at all" political.
The door to Room 306 bore a wreath
of plastic roses. Next to the;door is a
marker, like a gravestone, commemo.
rating Dr. King's life and death. Above
it stretches a banner with Dr. King's
words: "I have been to the mountain-
top.,, -
Room 306 has been converted to a lit.
tle museum with artifacts and photo-
graphs of Dr. King.
Moments later Mr. Jackson dis-
cussed his own fears as he stood an the
sidewalk in front of the flophouse on
Main Street from which the shots were
fired. James Earl Ray later pleaded
guilty in the slayings and was sen-
tenced to 99 years in prison.
ments, if they perceive an individual as
having the power to offset a war ma-
chine, it stands to reason he would be in
extreme jeopardy by a mean govern-
mentt," Mr. Jackson concluded.
Mr. Jackson receives far more death
threats than Walter F. Mondale and
Senator Gary Hart, the other two
Democratic candidates, according to
sources familiar with the threats.
In his appearances, Mr. Jackson
refers to death more often these days
as he stirs his church audiences by .
reciting, "Yeah, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death."
Mr. Jackson acknowledged today
that he faced danger. But be said he
saw "a complete revival of spirit and
renewal of mind of a whole people,"
taking place.
"I'm sensitive," he said. "I want to
live, as other people do, to have the con-
veniences and comforts of life that
.other people do. There are high and low
moments of the spirit."
Mr. Jackson said a fit memorial to
Dr. King would be the enactment of a
school breakfast program by the Ten-
nessee State Legislature to "feed the
hungry children of this stare every
day." A proposal for such a program
.recently failed to win approval, he i
noted.
F.B.I. Role Criticized
He also repeated his belief that the
Federal Government had taken part in
a conspiracy to murder Dr. King.
"I went.to see James Earl Ray in
prison," he said referring to a visit
years ago. "It was clear he was in-
volved, but it was also clear he wasn't
capable of pulling it off himself."
The candidate said that the author-
ties had failed to protect the minister
adeouatelv and that the Feelers,) P.
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/21 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000303030011-2