Kerry to seek release of FBI files on King
WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., has renewed a push for a review and release of numerous government documents on Martin Luther King Jr.
The documents have been kept from the public review in FBI field offices by unwilling government officials or, if released, the documents contained large chunks of redacted material, The Boston Globe reported Monday.
Kerry said he wants to have all records on King's life and death be located, reviewed and released by a review board at the National Archives similar to those that handled documents on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and for Nazi war criminals.
Kerry's plan to introduce legislation is seen by some as a first step in a broader effort to force the government to reveal what it knew and did about violence against blacks during the civil rights era, including unsolved lynching and bombing cases, the Globe said.
"There are a lot of unanswered questions," said Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a former King aide who was beaten during a civil rights march in 1965. "The American people have a right to know what happened."
The Civil Rights Cold Case Project said it hoped to find answers and sought support from Attorney General Eric Holder, who said the Justice Department "is engaged in internal discussions about how best to proceed ... in order to achieve the most responsible public disclosure possible."
Part of the problem is unless researchers know the specific documents the likelihood of obtaining them through a FOIA request are slim, the Globe said. That's why an alternate request mechanism is needed, the report said.