Talk:Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination
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[edit] Merge
This article has a great deal of overlap with the Martin Luther King Jr article. Going from the main article to this, and seeing only one novel paragraph, brings down the perception of Wikipedia's quality. Vranak (talk) 20:31, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
- I would actually recommend the opposite - the MLK article is already very long, and it would be appropriate to somewhat decrease the level of detail in that article concerning the assassination, instead directing readers to this article if more detail is desired. --DachannienTalkContrib 20:49, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
- I agree with Dachannien- this is one of the most historically significant assassinations in recent times. There are tons of sources which talk about it. Having it as its own article seems most reasonable to me. Friday (talk) 15:53, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
- Dachannien is correct. Looks like it was a half-thought-through split, but there's no reason we can't improve on that. --Dhartung | Talk 04:38, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
- Indeed, this is a valid point. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.234.173.149 (talk) 22:35, 18 May 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Room for improvement
Another thought:
- Readers should see date he died at the top of the page. It's immediately pertinent to this topic. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.237.161.42 (talk) 04:53, 6 April 2008 (UTC)
Just a potted peer review:
- Needs a full introduction per WP:LEAD -- at least a full paragraph, possibly two, summarizing the article.
- Some more background about King's history leading to this point, especially what brought him to Memphis, including attempts to broaden his message to supporting equal pay and maintain an alignment between the civil rights and labor movements.
- Previous threats and pressures, which made his Mountaintop speech viscerally believable to many.
- Tensions in country raised by LBJ quitting Democratic race 4 days earlier.
- Expanded coverage of the riots. One sentence hardly does them justice. There is inconsistent coverage, with D.C. and Baltimore (I think) getting full articles. National Guard troops were called out and there was nationwide fear of a race war.[1]
- The nonviolent civil rights movement was robbed of influence. The Black Panthers became both stronger and an obvious FBI bogeyman.
- Coupled with the assassination of Bobby Kennedy, helped lead to the Days of Rage at the Democratic Convention in Chicago.
- Have we ever had either of the famous Lorraine Motel balcony photos, either the one with everyone pointing, or the one moments before with Jesse Jackson? The first is almost certainly fair use as one of the historic photos of the 20th century (may deserve own article in fact).
- Our article is far too cautious about Ray, only introducing him in the "investigation". Though questions have been raised about his role we need to tell the official story and then discuss the objections to it. --Dhartung | Talk 04:54, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
[edit] FamousPictures Magazine Source
I did a little digging, and it appears that the story about the switchboard operator dying of a heart attack is a fabrication. According to the cited page (http://www.famouspictures.org/mag/index.php?title=Martin_Luther_King_Jr_Killed), operator in question was "the motel owner’s wife". But the motel was owned by Ralph Abernathy, and his wife Juanita just gave a speech last month. As far as I can tell FamousPictures Magazine is just another wiki, which suggests it should be trusted like any other Wikipedia editor... in other words, not at all. I'm going to go ahead and remove all the material from that source right now from this and the MLK main page. Epukinsk (talk) 21:34, 5 April 2008 (UTC)
- The owner was not Abernathy, but Walter Lane Bailey, and his wife Lorraine -- apparently the namesake of the motel -- "died of a brain hemorrhage several hours after King was shot", according to the National Civil Rights Museum which is housed in the motel building. --Dhartung | Talk 02:55, 6 April 2008 (UTC)
