COPA confernce in Memphis

[John Geraghty]

Here are the details from John Judge.

Map to the event is available on COPA's website www.politicalassassinations.com Please donate to help the conferences get off the ground.

We hope to broadcast the entire event live on our website from 4pm on April 4th, so please tune in.

Friends,

The regional meeting of the Coalition on Political Assassinations that marks the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will be held in Memphis, Tennessee from April 4-6 at the Comfort Inn Downtown, 100 N. Front St. with easy access to trolley lines that go to the National Civil Rights Museum, site of the murder.

We will gather at 4:00 on April 4 at the Comfort Inn lobby to go down to a candlelight vigil at the site and return for the start of our conference at 7:00 pm, with keynote speaker Judge Joe Brown and presentation of awards, followed by films. Award-winning documentary filmmaker Randy Benson will record the events.

Our meeting will run through Saturday, starting with more speakers at 9:00 am and ending at 5:00 pm for dinner, then films that night. Confirmed speakers include Jerry and John Ray, Lyndon Barsten, T Carter, Charles Cabbage, and Coby Smith, others pending. Sunday morning we will go from 9:00 am - 12:00 pm with wrap-up and COPA plans for the future.

Hope you can joiin us there. If you have not yet reserved a room, try the Sleep Inn, which is closeby, our COPA rate and rooms have been filled already. Please see our website at www.politicalassassinations.com about all our other meetings planned this year and the latest news items concerning assassinations.

If you have not yet made a donation to COPA this year, please consider helping us out, we are doing five conferences on almost no funds. Donations are not tax-deductible, but for those who send $50 or more we will provide a set of the COPA 2007 Dallas annual conference DVDs. Address to COPA, PO Box 772, Washington, DC 20044 or send by Paypal online at our website www.politicalassassinations.com.

*Thursday, April 3

***MLK National Leadership Summit From Memphis Toward 2018****

*April 3-4*

Hundreds of the nation’s and the world’s leaders will gather for a

critical symposium on the state of Black American titled “Where Do We

Go from Here:MLK Leadership Summit 2008-2018.” The event will move

beyond ceremony and focus on policy development and the commitment to a

concrete policy framework for America. (No further information available)

**National Action Network: 10th Annual Convention**

*April 3-5**

*Rev. Al Sharpton invites you to attend NAN’s national convention in at

the Peabody Hotel. Among those confirmed to attend include: Myrlie

Evers- Williams, Harry Belafonte, comedian Mo’Nique, Michael Baisden,

Marc Morial, Shirley Caesar Earle Graves, Sr., Steve Harvey, Sean

Hannity and activists, union leaders, and members of the clergy and

community. For more information, please visit http://www.nationalactionnetwork.net.

*

Friday, April 4

Dream Reborn Conference

**Memphis Cook Convention Center*

*255 North Main Street*

*April 4-6*

Hundreds of leaders, youth, dream makers and dream seekers, primarily from communities of color, will be joining us at The Dream Reborn to deepen both relationships and skills in the arena of climate justice and building opportunity for poor communities in the new growing green

economy.

Among the presenters, we will hear from Van Jones (Ella Baker Center/Green For All), Majora Carter (Sustainable South Bronx), Winona LaDuke (Honor the Earth), Malia Lazu (The Gathering for Justice), LaDonna Redmond (Institute for Community Resource Development), Mary Ann Hitt (Appalachian Voices), Reverend Yearwood (Hip Hop Caucus), Adrienne Maree Brown (Ruckus Society), Tony Anderson (Morehouse College Student Leader), Ian Kim (Oakland Green Jobs Corps) and more.

*National Action Network Recommitment March

*2:00 pm

*Peabody Hotel, 149 Union Avenue***

Join the march commemorating the 40th anniversary of the death of Dr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. as Rev. Sharpton and Martin Luther King, III

lead people in Memphis to the Lorraine Hotel, the site of the

assassination of Dr King 40 yrs ago.

*Candle Light Vigil*

5:30 p.m.

National Civil Rights Museum

*450 Mulberry Street*

Vigil will include special guest speakers and performers including Rev. C.T.

Vivian, Dr. Cynthia Griggs Fleming, and Philander Smith Concert Choir.

Forty lanterns will be lit by local citizens from diverse backgrounds

as a roll call of beneficiaries of the movement and as the names of

civil rights figures of the past are read. The lanterns will remain lit

for forty days. *Contact:: 901-521-9699

***COPA Regional Meeting**

*7:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Comfort Inn, Downtown, 100 N. Front Street*

*Keynote: Judge Joe Brown*, last trial judge for James Earl Ray's appeal

who testified at the civil trial on his ballistics testing of the alleged murder weapon.

Presentation of awards. Films. Registration paid at event, amount TBA. Hotel: 877-287-8601. (Rooms sold out, try Sleep Inn, 901-522-9700)

*April 4th Foundation Commemorative Awards Banquet*

7:00 pm *EVENT SOLD OUT*

*Memphis Cook Convention Center*

*255 North Main Street*

This annual event honors some of the pioneers in civil and human

rights. This year’s honorees are U.S. Rep. John Lewis, and Harry

Belafonte. The banquet’s keynote speaker is Dr. Joseph Lowery and

Mistress of Ceremonies is Angela Basset. Tickets are $100.00. For more

information, contact Cato Walker at 901-255-0725 or 901-864-2286

*Saturday, April 5

***COPA Regional Meeting**

*9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Comfort Inn, Downtown, 100 N. Front Street*

Speakers include researchers, jurists and witnesses Judge Joe Brown, John and Jerry Ray, Lyndon Barsten, T Carter, Charles Cabbage and Coby Smith

**7:00 pm - 10:00 pm**

Films. Hotel: 877-287-8601. (Rooms sold out, try Sleep Inn, 901-522-9700)

**Sunday, April 6**

**COPA Regional Meeting**

*9:00 am - 12:00 pm

Comfort Inn, Downtown, 100 N. Front Street*

Discussions and wrap-up, future of COPA and events this year.

Hotel: 877-287-8601. (Rooms sold out, try Sleep Inn, 901-522-9700)

[Michael Hogan]

*Saturday, April 5

***COPA Regional Meeting**

*9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Comfort Inn, Downtown, 100 N. Front Street*

Speakers include researchers, jurists and witnesses Judge Joe Brown, John and Jerry Ray, Lyndon Barsten, T Carter, Charles Cabbage and Coby Smith

**7:00 pm - 10:00 pm**

Films. Hotel: 877-287-8601. (Rooms sold out, try Sleep Inn, 901-522-9700)

Lyndon Barsten and John Larry Ray have authored a new book entitled Truth at Last. From the promotional website:

On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. A year later, James Earl Ray pled guilty to the murder under the pressure of federal agents, and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. But did Ray really kill MLK? Now, at the 40th anniversary of the death of one of America’s greatest leaders, the man who knew James Earl Ray best, his eldest brother, John Larry Ray, offers evidence that Ray could not have assassinated Dr. King – and that he was merely a pawn in a U.S. government conspiracy.

In “Truth at Last,” John Larry Ray, along with historian and co-author Lyndon Barsten, reveals for the first time everything he has long known about the circumstances of his brother’s plea bargain, as well as what he has since learned from thousands of once-secret government documents. Among their findings:

The night before the assassination, James Earl Ray confided to his brother that he feared he was being set up to take the fall in an undisclosed operation.

Ray had been inducted into the CIA and subjected to mind control experiments; two years before the assassination, he was under the influence of several government-related hypnotists seemingly working to make him an obedient patsy.

Forensics do not support the claim that Ray shot Dr. King.

“John Larry Ray is the only living person who knows the truth about the King case.”

—Pete Baetz, House Select Committee

on Assassination investigator.

http://www.globepequot.com/special/whokilledmlk/

[Terry Mauro]

From TreeFrog, today March 30, 2008:

"Hi Ed,

This is the mini-website for John's and my book that you are thanked in.

http://www.globepequot.com/special/whokilledmlk/

Lyndon"

Who Killed Martin Luther King?

The answer was known... December 9th, 1999:

"Raul," The Mafia and the Memphis Police:

From the King Center:

MLK Assassination - James Earl Ray Trial Transcripts

Testimony of LOYD JOWERS, Judge Joe Brown, and others.

http://www.thekingcenter.org/news/trial/Volume5.html

King Center - The Entire MLK Assassination - James Earl Ray Trial Transcripts

http://www.thekingcenter.org/news/trial.html#Transcript

On December 9th, 1999, a jury of 12 Tennessee citizens restored the judicial honor of their state when they found James Earl Ray "not guilty of shooting Dr. King."

The Transcription of the King Family Press Conference on the

MLK Assassination Trial Verdict

December 9, 1999

Atlanta, GA

http://www.thekingcenter.com/news/trial/PressConf.html

"Free at last...Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we're Free at last."

Martin Luther King, April 3rd, 1968

[John Geraghty]

I created a short promotional video for the conference on youtube. It is unlikely that it will get around enough to have an impact upon conference registration, but it may draw peoples attention to COPA and may also be useful in highlighting future conferences.

If you have a blog or a mailing list, please distribute this.

As the video says, COPA may broadcast the conference live over its website, so stay tuned. We also expect CSPAN to cover the event.

John

[Dawn Meredith]

I created a short promotional video for the conference on youtube. It is unlikely that it will get around enough to have an impact upon conference registration, but it may draw peoples attention to COPA and may also be useful in highlighting future conferences.

If you have a blog or a mailing list, please distribute this.

As the video says, COPA may broadcast the conference live over its website, so stay tuned. We also expect CSPAN to cover the event.

John

I have sent to most people in my email contacts.

40 years today!

"Early morning April fourth, shots ring out in the Memphis sky

Free at last they took your life

But they could not take your pride

In the Name of Love, what more in the name of love?"

Pride In The Name of Love - U-2

Dawn

[John Geraghty]

Hi Peter,

I called John Judge yesterday. They have a camera, but nobody has been able to bring a laptop along with them. If the conference is broadcasted, it will start at 4pm Memphis time today and will be saved on the net.

I'm still waiting to hear from John as to whether they can borrow a laptop from someone. I have given them instructions as to how to set it up.

Time will tell.

John

[John Geraghty]

Unfortunately, it seems as though they were not able to get a laptop for the event. It also seems that CSPAN did not cover the event. Someone is, however, recording the event, so we'll get it online as soon as we can.

I'm more hopeful that the RFK and JFK conferences will be broadcast, particularly the Dallas event, as I hope to be there to coordinate it myself.

John