Mon Jul 21 21:46:03 UTC 2025: ## News Article:
**FBI Files on Martin Luther King Jr. Released Amid Family Concerns**
**Washington, July 22, 2025 (The Hindu)** – The U.S. government has released over 240,000 pages of FBI records detailing the surveillance of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., a move met with both anticipation from historians and reservations from the King family and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). The documents, sealed since 1977, were released following a federal judge lifting the order at the request of the Justice Department.
President Trump, fulfilling a campaign promise and an earlier executive order, authorized the release of the King files alongside those related to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. The timing of the release has also drawn scrutiny, coming shortly after criticism of the administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case files.
Martin Luther King III and Bernice King, Dr. King’s two surviving children, issued a statement urging the public to view the files with “empathy, restraint, and respect,” emphasizing the personal grief their family has endured for over 57 years since their father’s assassination in 1968.
The SCLC, co-founded by King in 1957, has voiced strong opposition to the release, citing concerns about the illegal surveillance tactics employed by the FBI under Director J. Edgar Hoover. Previous releases have revealed Hoover’s obsession with discrediting King and the Civil Rights Movement, including wiretapping, bugging hotel rooms, and using informants.
The King children condemned the FBI’s COINTELPRO campaign as an “invasive, predatory, and deeply disturbing disinformation and surveillance campaign” aimed at dismantling King’s reputation and the broader movement.
Scholars and journalists are now poring over the documents in hopes of uncovering new insights into King’s assassination and the government’s role in monitoring him. King’s focus on economic justice and his opposition to the Vietnam War led to him being viewed as a communist threat by many establishment figures.
While James Earl Ray pled guilty to King’s assassination, members of the King family have long questioned whether he acted alone, prompting previous investigations that ultimately upheld Ray’s guilt.
The release of these files promises to reignite debate over King’s legacy, the government’s surveillance of civil rights leaders, and the enduring impact of the Civil Rights Movement.
First Piper 