Changes

== Assassination ==

== Assassination ==

On April 3, 1968, King attended a rally in Memphis, Tennessee to support of local black sanitation workers who were striking due to a wage imbalance with white colleagues. The following evening, he was standing on the baclony outside his room at the Lorraine Motel when a shot rang out. King was hit in the face and rushed to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. He was 39 years old.<ref>http://history1900s.about.com/cs/martinlutherking/a/mlkassass_2.htm</ref>

On April 3, 1968, King attended a rally in [[Memphis]], Tennessee to support of local black sanitation workers who were striking due to a wage imbalance with white colleagues. The following evening, he was standing on the baclony outside his room at the Lorraine Motel when a shot rang out. King was hit in the face and rushed to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. He was 39 years old.<ref>http://history1900s.about.com/cs/martinlutherking/a/mlkassass_2.htm</ref>

News of King's death spread quickly and sparked riots in 100 U.S. cities. President Lyndon Johnson pleaded with Americans to refrain from violent demonstrations, saying "I ask every citizen to reject the blind violence that has taken Dr King." Presidential candidate Robert Kennedy was also vocal in pleading for peace.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/4/newsid_2453000/2453987.stm</ref>

News of King's death spread quickly and sparked riots in 100 U.S. cities. President [[Lyndon Johnson]] pleaded with Americans to refrain from violent demonstrations, saying "I ask every citizen to reject the blind violence that has taken Dr King." Presidential candidate [[Robert Kennedy]] was also vocal in pleading for peace.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/4/newsid_2453000/2453987.stm</ref>

King's assassin, a white ex-convict named James Earl Ray, successfully eluded police for two months. He fled to Canada, where he lived under the alias Ramon George Sneyd. He was arrested on June 8, 1968 and confessed to the crime, for which he received a sentence of 99 years in prison.<ref>http://www.fullissue.com/index.php/james-earl-ray-biography-1929-1998.html</ref>

King's assassin, a white ex-convict named [[James Earl Ray]], successfully eluded police for two months. He fled to Canada, where he lived under the alias Ramon George Sneyd. He was arrested on June 8, 1968 and confessed to the crime, for which he received a sentence of 99 years in prison.<ref>http://www.fullissue.com/index.php/james-earl-ray-biography-1929-1998.html</ref>

Although King is generally embraced by the American cultural establishment today, he and the authorities did not always have such a cordial relationship. In 1967, King called the United States  "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today." The [[FBI]], under the direction of [[J. Edgar Hoover]], kept King under surveillance from 1961 until his death in 1968. The Bureau tapped his phones and bugged his hotel rooms. The FBI did not end its surveillance of King's wife, [[Coretta Scott King]], until many years after her husband's death.

Although King is generally embraced by the American cultural establishment today, he and the authorities did not always have such a cordial relationship. In 1967, King called the United States  "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today." The [[FBI]], under the direction of [[J. Edgar Hoover]], kept King under surveillance from 1961 until his death in 1968. The Bureau tapped his phones and bugged his hotel rooms. The FBI did not end its surveillance of King's wife, [[Coretta Scott King]], until many years after her husband's death.

Because of this, and despite Ray's confession to the murder, both Jesse Jackson and King's son Dexter Scott King have both said there was a government conspiracy to murder the civil rights leader. Jackson wrote the foreword to Ray's autobiography ''Who Killed Martin Luther King Jr.?'' and in it, he wrote "I have always believed that the government was part of a conspiracy, either directly or indirectly, to assassinate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."<ref>http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/assassins/ray/1.html</ref>

Because of this, and despite Ray's confession to the murder, both [[Jesse Jackson]] and King's son Dexter Scott King have both said there was a government conspiracy to murder the civil rights leader. Jackson wrote the foreword to Ray's autobiography ''Who Killed Martin Luther King Jr.?'' and in it, he wrote "I have always believed that the government was part of a conspiracy, either directly or indirectly, to assassinate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."<ref>http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/assassins/ray/1.html</ref>

== Quotes ==

== Quotes ==