Did the FBI Really Kill Martin Luther King Jr.

or Was It Just Another Tuesday at Headquarters?

Ah yes, the age-old question: did the FBI have a hand in silencing Martin Luther King Jr., or were they just really unlucky at being the most suspiciously omnipresent organization in American history? After all, this is the same bureau that spent years wiretapping MLK, sending him creepy anonymous letters, and generally treating him like he was running a secret underground jazz club instead of, you know, leading the Civil Rights Movement. But hey, when your motto is basically “We’ve never met a dissident we didn’t want to surveil,” coincidences are bound to happen, right?

The official story tells us James Earl Ray was the lone gunman, acting all by himself, fueled by racism and bad life choices. But conspiracy theorists—and people who simply know how to read—can’t help but notice how much the FBI stood to gain from MLK’s removal. After all, they had already branded him “the most dangerous man in America.” And what do you usually do with “dangerous men” in FBI-speak? You don’t exactly send them fruit baskets. Unless the fruit basket is ticking.

Of course, if you ask the FBI about it today, they’ll insist they had nothing to do with it, and then probably follow that up by tapping your phone just for asking. The truth, like MLK’s FBI file, is locked away in some dusty cabinet marked “Classified: Don’t Look Unless You Want Trouble.” Did they do it? Maybe. Did they want to do it? Absolutely. But hey—sometimes history doesn’t need facts; it just needs a little plausible deniability and a lot of black marker on declassified documents.