Eleven Months Before His Murder: Did the Northern “New Phase” Spark MLK’s Assassination?

 

Turning the Corner: Dr. King Envisions a New Era

In 1967, roughly 11 months before his assassination, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke with NBC News at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church. He mentioned a "new phase" of the civil rights struggle—one that would move beyond mere decency to genuine equality, demanding deep structural change. In his words, the movement had shifted from seeking rights to demanding true equality, and that shift was stirring resistance from entrenched power structures. 

From Civil Rights to Human Rights: The Poor People’s Campaign

This "new phase" was more than rhetoric. King was laying the groundwork for the Poor People’s Campaign, a bold initiative to tackle economic injustice as a human rights issue—not just a racial one. His belief was that true freedom must include security: "if a man doesn’t have a job or an income, he has neither life nor liberty nor the possibility for the pursuit of happiness." 

By March 1968, King was mobilizing for action—speaking out, organizing, and preparing to bring his economic justice platform to Washington, D.C., even as he traveled to support striking sanitation workers in Memphis. 

A Threat to the Status Quo

Many historians and analysts suggest that King’s expansion into economic and anti-war activism made him a greater threat to those in power. His stand against the Vietnam War and his unprecedented critique of American foreign policy and capitalism ramped up government scrutiny. Notably, after King’s assassination, a 1999 civil court ruled that government agencies were complicit in his murder—part of the FBI’s COINTELPRO efforts to undermine King’s influence. 

A Harrowing Connection: Vision Meets Violence

The timing couldn’t be more striking. Just days before his death, King spoke again of economic justice and nonviolent revolution, and still he pushed forward with the Poor People’s Campaign.  One of King’s aides, Reverend James Lawson, noted that the impending Poor People’s Campaign made King a prime target for elimination—particularly as he veered from civil rights reform into direct challenge of capitalist and military power. 

Related: Twin Cities Public Television Presents: Jim Crow of The North

Revolutionary Vision Meets Suppression

Was Dr. King’s call for a broader, more radical human rights movement the “new phase” that triggered his assassination? While history can never offer a definitive answer, the evidence is compelling:

• The expansion of his mission to include economic justice and anti-war activism made King more dangerous—symbolically and realistically—to powerful interests.

• Sustained governmental opposition, including surveillance and sabotage under COINTELPRO, framed him as a subversive threat.

• His assassination occurred at the height of this intensified campaign, signaling that his evolving vision may well have crossed an unspoken red line.

In this sense, the “new phase” was not just a rhetorical evolution—it was a bold redefinition of justice that, quite possibly, sparked a violent backlash.

References

Bernice King speaks out as the government releases files about her father Martin Luther King Jr. (n.d.). Vanity Fair. Retrieved August 15, 2025, from https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/bernice-king-speaks-out-as-the-government-releases-files-about-her-father-martin-luther-king-jr

Poor People's Campaign. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved August 15, 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_People%27s_Campaign

Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved August 15, 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Martin_Luther_King_Jr.

Beyond Vietnam: A time to break silence. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved August 15, 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_Vietnam%3A_A_Time_to_Break_Silence

Martin Luther King Jr.’s unfinished business: Economic justice and the Poor People’s Campaign. (n.d.). News Beat. Retrieved August 15, 2025, from https://www.usnewsbeat.com/mlk-jr-unfinished-business

There’s a generational wealth divide between white and Black Minnesotans. (2023, February 2). MPR News. Retrieved August 15, 2025, from https://www.mprnews.org/episode/2023/02/02/theres-a-generational-wealth-divide-between-white-and-black-minnesotans

Trump administration releases thousands of files on MLK Jr.'s assassination. (2025, July 21). The Washington Post. Retrieved August 15, 2025, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/07/21/mlk-jr-files-assassination-fbi-trump/