#RolandMartinUnfiltered Presents: “April 4, 1968"

Bernice King, MLK's youngest daughter, vividly recalls the confusion and trauma surrounding her father's funeral at age five, particularly hearing his recorded voice after being told he couldn't speak. This initial loss was compounded by the mysterious death of her uncle and the assassination of her grandmother within six years, leading to a prolonged, unprocessed grief that resurfaced decades later.

the day I remember is the funeral... they end up playing the uh piece where my father talks about his own eulogy... she told me your when you see your father... he won't be able to talk to you... suddenly here's daddy's voice... that was very confusing for me that day. [03:11] I went through my cycle of hating, anger, and still struggle a little bit with anger... my uncle the next year being found in his pool mysteriously... Then my grandmother gets shot... in a matter of six years as a child, I'm trying to sort through all this. [09:16] I've had a lot of emotional moments. It's almost like I'm not reliving. It's like to a certain extent I'm going through it fresh because I didn't get a chance as a child to really go through it in a way that I could process different stuff. [11:38]

Coretta Scott King, despite her profound personal loss, immediately assumed a public role, demonstrating immense strength and focusing on continuing her husband's legacy, including establishing the King Center. Her private moments of grief were carefully managed, with one friend noting she only truly broke down when trying on her funeral headdress.

she had to go into mommy role. She had to go into carrying the legacy role building the King Center and all the work that she was doing. And I never saw my mother really cry cry. She was just this strong figure. [08:49] She didn't know. And it wasn't until she got to the airport that she got the call that and I think the mayor got the call that he is gone. [48:21] she came in telling her staff and everybody... but she said to her staff do not tell my children I'll do that myself. [49:25] when she tried on the headdress, then she looked in the mirror and I'm sure she's saying there, 'This is what I'm wearing to my husband's funeral.' And she broke down that time. But those only time she cried the whole time in that whole long week. [01:05:31]

In the immediate aftermath of MLK's assassination, Robert Kennedy stood out by offering concrete, actionable support to Coretta Scott King, arranging practical logistics like phone lines and a private plane, rather than just offering generic condolences like other political figures.

Everybody had the same message except one call... Robert Kennedy... He said Mrs. King. It's obvious now... you need more telephone lines because I've been trying to get you ever since the news broke... Mr. John Jones is in route to Atlanta now to install nine telephone lines for you... We've dispatched a plane. It's already there in Atlanta... Whenever you want to go, all you have to do is make this call. [53:30] He said, 'We know how we've got experience in this. We know what we're doing.' [55:54]

Richard Nixon, then a Republican presidential candidate, privately offered Coretta Scott King a personal check to cover the education of all four King children, an act of sympathy kept largely out of the public eye.

He said, 'I have brought with me a check, a personal check that we are feeling um the grief and because we are Americans, we have to take some responsibility for this.' So, as our personal expression of sympathy, we want to educate all four of your children. And this check that we have here will cover their expenses wherever they go... Nobody knows that story because I haven't told it for a few times. [58:31]

Jacqueline Kennedy, having recently experienced her own husband's assassination, shared a profoundly poignant, silent embrace with Coretta Scott King, communicating deep, shared grief and understanding without a single spoken word.

those two women didn't say one word to each other verbal word... They embraced... for an endless period of time. But you don't have to be smart to read their lips and their hearts. The heart was saying, 'We know what what you're feeling. You know, I know. We know.' That was the most poignant moment. And it was the one time that I cried because I was feeling their language. [00:59:59]

Martin Luther King Jr. and those close to him had a strong sense that his assassination was not a matter of if, but when, particularly after John F. Kennedy's death and as his activism expanded to include the Vietnam War and the Poor People's Campaign.

Martin King always talked about the fact that he would be shot down in the streets of the nation in the midst of this campaign. He he he started talking to us about that actually with the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 60 November 63. [37:52] I had come to the conclusion that was not a question of whether Martin King would be assassinated. Uh it was only when. [01:32:38] it was one of those things that we always knew and he always knew even as early as the bus boycott... that there was a possibility of losing our lives in the movement. [01:48:28]

The severe nature of Martin Luther King Jr.'s facial injury made his body difficult to prepare for viewing, requiring a family friend to personally apply makeup to make him presentable, highlighting the brutal reality of his death.

When I walked up to the beer, he looked awful. It looked as if someone had gone and just dug up a big glob of clay and slapped it upside his face. I was horrified... his jaw was blown up. 'That's the best I could do.' [01:07:48] So I took the two and stood over the casket, looking at Martin's face, and making myself a little r of a mixture... trying to match the other side of his face to get a balance to it. And I finally got it. [01:09:10]

Clarence Jones, a close advisor to MLK, firmly believes that James Earl Ray did not act alone, asserting that MLK's assassination was a "cold, calculated, premeditated conspiracy" involving figures like the Hunt brothers in Texas.

I believe that James Ray pulled the trigger... But James Oay did not wake up in the early morning of April 4th, 1968, all by himself and say, 'Today is the day I'm going to kill that king nigger.' No, no, no, no, no, no. Martin Luther King Jr's assassination was a result of a cold, calculated, premeditated conspiracy to kill him. And I believe that conspiracy goes right to the feet of of the Hunt brothers in Texas. [01:38:30]

Former FBI Director James Comey displayed a memo authorizing the wiretapping of Martin Luther King Jr. in his office, using it to teach new agents that the FBI should "never become that agency again," acknowledging past abuses.

Under the corner of the glass top is a photoatic copy of the memo of the memo from Robert F. Kennedy from J. Edoover to Robert F. Kennedy asking the authority to wire T Martin Luther King Jr... The reason I'm showing you Mr. Jones is every time there's a meeting of agents in my office, particularly a new agent, before they leave, I make them look at this and I says, 'The FBI can never become that agency again.' [01:40:32]