David Raziq is the investigative executive producer for the 11 News Defenders.

It was more than a year ago in January 2006 when the spark for this story started.

The occasion of course was a sad one and, in many ways, a turning point in the lives of those who had fought for civil rights: the funeral of Coretta Scott King. 

Here in the 11 News Defenders office, investigative reporter Mark Greenblatt and I had taken some moments to watch the proceedings on TV. It brought back memories of those dark black and white images from nearly 40 years ago of Scott King herself gracefully mourning at the funeral of Martin Luther King Jr.

So of course we started talking about MLK, his amazing accomplishments and the shameful role the FBI played in trying to literally destroy him. I was very familiar with the FBI’s anti-dissident activities in the ‘60s, the psych-ops and sabotage and just plain spying FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover authorized against those who didn’t agree with his definition of America. And that of course included Martin Luther King Jr., who Hoover hated.

Anyway as we talked, someone asked how I knew about all of “this stuff,” and I mentioned that FBI files could be requested on another person after that person died through the Freedom of Information Act.

All of sudden Mark and I looked at each other with the same idea: Let’s request Coretta Scott King’s FBI files. I was particularly curious since the activity against her husband had been so virulent and extensive. What did the FBI do to his wife?

Mark went right to work writing out a FOIA request and sent it off.

At first we hoped we might get the files within a few months.

Then came extension after extension as several parts of the FBI had to review the files before they were ready to release them to us.

But Mark established a good rapport with his FBI contact, so we felt confident that we were being treated fairly. We also learned that we were first in line to receive the file.

One truism does hold though:  If it’s the federal government you’re dealing with, stop holding your breath. So we waited.Finally last Friday we learned we would get the files the next week. We made arrangements of course to have them Federal Expressed to us overnight.

In the meantime both Mark and I studied government and FBI summaries of the COINTELPRO years and other works about MLK, the civil rights movement and the FBI.

Finally the files arrived. We worked as a team: One of us studying the files (and their various sign-offs and circulation stamps that tell a lot about intelligence documents and what they were being used for) and the other calling up various historians and, of course, the King family for comment. This was especially urgent since we knew we had to get the story on the air by Thursday night -- before people left for the Labor Day holiday.

Then after a fair amount of discussion between us and a representative from the King family estate, they agreed to an interview, and Mark and our photojournalist/editor Keith Tomshe were off to Atlanta.