The Final Words of James Earl Ray

James Earl Ray’s final words, cried out in After saying, “I had nothing to do with killing your father,” in his last breath, Ray resurrected discussions on his possible involvement in it and what really happened to King.

Looking at The Final Words of James Earl Ray, this analysis measures the influence of his claim in terms of justice and truth, and the remaining doubts in the history of the Civil Rights Movement.

James Earl Ray reiterated his lifelong claim to innocence. When spoken in 1997, mere one year before his death from liver and kidney disease, these words doubted the government’s assertion that Ray alone was culpable for the Memphis assassination.

Ray’s pronouncements reiterated guess works by the King family who had claimed government involvement in a larger scheme could be one of the reasons, supported by the 1999 civil suit where Jowers and others could be held responsible.

And indeed, a series of government investigatory tasks, which culminated in the 2000 report of the department of Justice, have all failed to justify that there was a credible evidence for conspiracy arguments, thus reiterating Ray’s guilt as established by forensics records.

The final words of James Earl Ray have inspired well into scholarly and public debate, an ongoing dance with a definitive telling of a pivotal event in American history.