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Various Allegations About Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The circulating email will be shown first, then the answers to each allegation. 

 

Original Message:  

Four things you didn't know about Martin Luther King

1. His name wasn't Martin Luther. It was Michael. It was decided Martin Luther had a more prominent ring to it, so he went by that. He never legally changed his name. To this day, he lived and died as Michael King.

2. While working on his dissertation for his doctoral degree at Boston University, he heavily plagiarized from another author who had done research on a subject similar to King's. As academic committee later found that over half of King's work was plagiarized, yet would not revoke his doctrine. King was dead by this time, and the committee ruled that revoking the title would serve no purpose. It was also discovered that King's famous I HAVE A DREAM speech was also not his own. He stole it from a sermon by Archibald Carey,a popular black preacher in the 1950's.

3. King was under FBI surveillance for several years (until he died) due to his ties with communist organizations throughout the country. King accepted money from the organizations to fund his movements. In return, King had to appoint communist leaders to run certain districts of his SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference), who then could project their communist ideas to larger audiences. A federal judge in the 60's ruled that the FBI files on King links to communism to remain top-secret until 2027. Senator Jesse Helms appealed to the Supreme Court in 1983 to release the files, so the correct bill in the Senate to create the Martin Luther King Federal Holiday could be abolished. He was denied.

4. One of King's closest friends, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, wrote a book in 1989 in which he talked about King's obsession with white prostitutes. King would often use church donations to have drunken sex parties, where he would hire two to three white prostitutes, occasionally beating them brutally. This has also been reported by the FBI agents who monitored King. King was married with four children.

Martin Luther King Day. A day when this country will come to a screeching halt so we can have parades and memorials to honor this man, a man that most of the world views as a saint for his role in the civil rights movement. No other public holiday in the United States honors a single individual. Of all the great leaders in our Nation's history-none of them have their own holiday. All of our great war heroes share Memorial Day. All of our great presidents share President's Day. Yet king — a man who was a phony, a cheater, a traitor, and a sexual degenerate gets a day of his own.

 

First, we should examine the origin of these allegations.  Break-The Chain says that most of this info comes from a white supremacist group called Storm Front who posted this on their anti-King site in January 2000.  The article was copied and sent around the world by email in 2003. 

 

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s name on his birth certificate is indeed Michael. However, Mr. King Jr. never knew any other name but Martin Luther. His father said that he was supossed to be named Martin Luther Jr. According to the Senior King, that was his name. However, he was known to many as Michael because that is what his father called him. King Sr. says that he did not know that his legal name was Martin Luther until he was 22 years old. There were no real records. He claims that it was his intention to name his child after himself, only the Doctor, knowing the elder King as Michael, put the name Michael Luther Jr. into the city records, thinking that was the elder King's name. Whether this is the real scoop or not is known only to M.L. King Sr. However, it is certain that Jr. never was known by any other name but Martin Luther King, Jr. Many people publish under the names they have always been called, despite what is on their birth certificate.

 

Even if he had changed his own name, it's weird to insinuate that someone is suspicious for doing so. Lots of people change their names, take on nicknames and never use anything else or change the spelling of their given names. The great C.S. Lewis, although he published under that name, hated his given name of Clive Staples. When he was 3 or 4 years old, he declared to his mother that his name was now Jacksie. Eventually, that became Jack and no one who knew him ever called him anything else.  In King's case, the allegation is supposed to show him using a prominent and famous religious name for his own furtherance.

 

The second allegation is true. However, the plagiarism wasn't discovered until 1984, long after King's death. No one can ask him the whys and wherefores about this issue and he apparently never spoke of it to anyone. It is certainly puzzling since the man could obviously write his own material quite well. One of his most famous (and best) writings was written up on toilet paper in a jail in Alabama. Chuck Colson did an excellent BreakPoint article on it in 2004. 

The third allegation is also untrue. King was undoubtedly familiar with the particular speech of Carey's that is being referenced here. The only commonality in the speech is in the end portion. He modified this portion only of Carey's sermon, which was even more inspirational in his able hands. It is not at all unusual for preachers to take something inspirational they have heard or read from another preacher and retool it slightly. The obvious reference is that between this and the previous plagiarism, King couldn't come up with anything on his own, but that is patently and obviously untrue.  One wonders why he plagiarized the portions of his dissertation.  Of course, I'd have to wonder the same thing about other perfectly intelligent people.  Numerous questions do pop up: Why didn't he confess it later?  Did he ever see this as a moral failing?

The fourth allegaton is a matter of guilty by association. Two of the men working within the Southern Christian Leadership conference were former Communists. Again, that wasn't all that unusual at that time. One of the men was a close advisor, and this made the Kennedy's nervous. However, neither Robert Kennedy nor the FBI could find any indication that either man had current Communist ties.  One cannot read King's speeches and writings and conclude that he adhered to any form of communist teaching either.

The fifth allegation was debunked by Ralph Abernathy long ago. It is well known that King had affairs. Abernathy admitted this and it was known by the FBI. However, Abernathy said that King never had sexual relations with any white women that he was aware of and there is apparently nothing in the FBI files to indicate this either.  Again, one has to wonder whether he understood this as a failure in morality.  Abernathy, commenting on some fairly disgusting sexual references made by King in a surveillance audio tape, made some justification on cultural grounds.  He said it was just the way they talked.  King had far too much knowledge to have used that justification himself.  That only gives insight into the issue, not justification.  Snopes did a good bit of research into all this and has all the various quotes from King Sr., Ralph Abernathy and King's biographer on their site.

The final allegation is this one: No other public holiday in the United States honors a single individual. Is that so? Guess they forgot about George Washington's Birthday, Abraham Lincoln's Birthday (now celebrated together) and Columbus Day. These were people who helped to shape our nation for the better - and none of them were perfect. Washington had an affair, Lincoln did not believe in the equality of blacks nor did he believe in slavery. He stated that he could just leave them alone. As for Columbus, well, he is no longer PC.  Honoring those who did so much for our country is appropriate. It's too bad that so many take the opportunity to continue the dividing that Dr. King so greatly abhorred.  There are those on both sides of this issue who have reasons for keeping racial tension going.

Were any of our genuine heros -either of faith or country - perfect? Of course not.  In fact, it always fascinates me how imperfect even the saints of both Old and New Testaments really were.  However, we rightfully hold them in places of honor for their work for the real tenants of both faith and democracy (or republic as is our case).

All articles are by Cathy Holden (except where quotes are noted) and require permission for reprint.   Use contact form for permission.  Website © 2004 Truth Miners Ministries, Inc.