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King: None of that was done alone Many people sacrificed the people in St Augustine who spent sixto order lunch So ave of themselves

Foster: It’s not time for that

King: For years now I have heard the ait It rings in the ear of every Negro with a piercing familiarity Wait till next year Wait till after the election Wait until things are calmer Wait aler

Foster: I can’t do this, Martin I won’t

King: Hoover is not going to stop He hates me, you, and everyone in this movement He has aabout the Constitution or the law We have to attack this problele he will not anticipate

Foster: They make it all about communis that ht point to a red influence

King: “A drop of red dye, then another, and another, accu to stain the whole country” That’s how they think But that’s s in their hearts They attack us, Ben, because they hate us They hate us because we are not like the that can stop them

Foster: I still can’t do this I won’t help you die

King: That’s why this entire conversation is being recorded I want the world to know that you did this because I wanted it done In no ere you co the friend that you have been for these past years

Foster: Martin, that doesn’t change a thing for me

King: We started this reed then on ould ultimately have to do To make this record complete, I want to memorialize what happened

[PAUSE]

King: I suspected that there were people a for the FBI People close to ate and find out if that was true He did as I asked and discovered at least three individuals who had been recruited by an FBI agent na those traitors, I decided to use thee I asked Ben torecruited as a spy, too, using the fact that he are of the other three yet had not reported their identity to me The continued flow of inforood intentions For several ent Jansen with additional information about me and our activities, all of which I knew about Is what I’ve said, so far, true and accurate?

Foster: Every word

King: On ent Jansen into a darker place We all have our flaws Ben is plagued with the sin of debt, so convincing Jansen of his need for money presented little problem He also led Jansen to believe that he was disloyal to both me and the movement That he had co He considered me a hypocrite So the Negro people He also convinced Jansen that there were others who felt the sa to walk away from the movement Hoover’s slander and personal inti tapes sent to my home, which my wife heard, and the note that implied suicide was one, they would have to kill me Is that a correct statement of what occurred?

Foster: It is, with one change They were suspicious ofwhat I did But I steadily upped the price for my cooperation, which they paid Eventually, they caenuine

King: Because they wanted to believe No, that’s’ incorrect They had to believe I do want to point out that every dollar paid to you by the FBI was used to pay your debts I approved that action At present, that totals a little over 22,000 Doing that was necessary in order to maintain the story we created Ben’s carelessness with , are facts that existed before all of this started It was easy for theate and verify their truth

[PAUSE]

King: Starting in October of last year and continuing to now, Ben has continued to plant the seed of violence in their minds This was all done at my insistence None of this was hard to accomplish These men already hated deep in their hearts Do I have a death wish? Not in the least But I have co forward, to shift to another phase, I must die Christianity itself was founded on the death of our Lord Jesus It took his sacrifice on the cross to spur his followers ahead I do not mean, nor do I imply, that I am similar in any way to Jesus Quite the contrary I am a man filled with sin But I ae I cannot, and will not, allohat I’ve worked so hard to achieve to be destroyed It is clear that I cannot accomplish this mission in life But in death it may be possible

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

Foster switched the machine off

I sat at the table in shock

He seemed to sense my quandary

“Martin wanted to die,” he said “He set the whole thing up”

If not for the tape I would have thought hi’s distinctive voice had made clear those intentions