Referring to the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. by the hands of the US government as a “conspiracy theory” both misuses that term and ignores concrete evidence identifying the true culprits. Conspiracy theories offer speculation without proof, whereas a conspiracy is a secret plan by a group to commit unlawful or harmful acts. The idea that agencies within the American government could secretly plot to harm—or kill—Civil Rights leader Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. shook o