The "Trial of the Century" that wasn't

Apparently all this week on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 - apparently, because I can't bear to look - the theme is "conspiracy theories." Monday was UFOs. Tuesday, the assassination of Martin Luther King.

Whoa there, Mr Cooper. I don't know how they do things on The Mole, but shouldn't your alleged news hour be the reality program? Because I know it dropped down America's memory hole faster than you can say "Has anybody seen my old friend Martin?" but in 1999 an American jury in a US Court of Law found for conspiracy in the murder of Dr King, and implicated agencies of the American government.

Anyone remember? Anybody care? Hello, America: is this thing on?

I suppose I could have hallucinated the whole thing, but these do look like the complete transcripts of the trial. But I don't want to jump to any conclusions. After all, CNN says the conspiracy is only a theory. That I can still read CNN's hastily buried report of the jury's finding is a stubborn contradiction, but Michael Posner will probably come along soon to explain it all to me.

Sean Gonsalves of the Cape Cod Times, writing shortly after the verdict:

Conspiracy theories abound. Professors, pundits and especially government eggheads - having read Richard Hofstadter's excellent analysis of the political paranoiac - talk about conspiracy theories in pejorative tones, certain that the rabble just doesn't understand the complexities of governance.

I suppose all that makes for an interesting intellectual exchange but the crucial question is whether a conspiracy is, in fact, behind a particular political event. Conspiracies happen.

Loyd Jowers told Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s son, Dexter, and former U.N. ambassador Andrew Young, that he was part of a conspiracy to kill King. Today marks the 32nd anniversary of his assassination.

The plot in which Jowers said he took part went to trial after all these years. This past December the jury ruled that, indeed, there was a conspiracy to kill King, involving Jowers and "others, including governmental agencies."

"They call the O.J. trial "the trial of the century." It pales in significance to King v. Jowers. A European reporter covering the trial remarked: "You Americans are always talking about 'the trial of the century!' Well, this is the trial of the century, and none of your reporters are covering it!"

Gonsalves goes on to summarize the case for conspiracy. For a thorough study of the plot to kill King and the belated conspiracy trial, I recommend Orders to Kill and An Act of State by King family attorney William Pepper.

This is from James W. Douglass's dramatic account of the verdict:

The jury returned with a verdict after two and one-half hours. Judge James E. Swearengen of Shelby County Circuit Court, a gentle African-American man in his last few days before retirement, read the verdict aloud. The courtroom was crowded with spectators, almost all black.

"In answer to the question, ‘Did Loyd Jowers participate in a conspiracy to do harm to Dr. Martin Luther King?’ your answer is ‘Yes."’ The man on my left leaned forward and whispered softly, "Thank you, Jesus."

The judge continued: "‘Do you also find that others, including governmental agencies, were parties to this conspiracy as alleged by the defendant?’ Your answer to that one is also ‘Yes."’ An even more heartfelt whisper: "Thank you, Jesus!"

David Morphy, the only juror to grant an interview, said later: "We can look back on it and say that we did change history. But that’s not why we did it. It was because there was an overwhelming amount of evidence and just too many odd coincidences."

Not so fast, Mr Morphy. The state thanks you for your service, but you did not change history. In fact, so far as the state is concerned, the verdict you and your fellor jurors handed down does not even register as history. As far as America's historical memory is concerned your verdict is as ephemeral as the artifacts of the Roswell crash in the popular imagination, in which Americans are permitted to believe anything, but know nothing.

That the Martin Luther King Civil Suit never contended OJ for "Trial of the Century" honours says all we need to know about the US corporate media's complicity in the cover-up of crimes of state, and how it has robbed the nation's collective consciousness of it's real history. This is accomplished by neglect, disinformation ("Thank you for joining us Mr Posner"), and the generous application of ridicule.

Friday's scheduled topic for Anderson Cooper's "conspiracy theories"? Electoral fraud in the 2004 Presidential election.