A Word: My Father, the Spy

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3.9 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 23 December 2018

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Every family has secrets. As a girl, Leta McCollough Seletzky learned that her father, Marrell McCollough– was on the scene of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. But it would be years before she learned that he was there as a spy for the Memphis police, who wanted information on King’s local allies. On today’s episode of A Word, she speaks with Jason Johnson about her father’s story, captured in her new book, The Kneeling Man: My Father's Life as a Black Spy Who Witnessed the Assassination of Martin Luther King. Guest: Leta McCollough Seletzky, author of The Kneeling Man: My Father's Life as a Black Spy Who Witnessed the Assassination of Martin Luther King Podcast production by Ahyiana Angel You can skip all the ads in A Word by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/awordplus for $15 for your first three months. This Pride Month, make an impact by helping Macy’s and The Trevor Project on their mission to fund life-saving suicide prevention services for LGBTQ youth. Go to macys.com/purpose to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a word, a podcast from Slate. I'm your host, Jason Johnson.
0:09.0	The death of Martin Luther King Jr. was captured in an iconic photograph taken moments after he was shot.
0:15.0	Picture captures the slain civil rights leader bleeding out on a balcony,
0:20.0	surrounded by trusted advisors, and a man who we now know was a spy.
0:25.7	I just thought how could a black man infiltrate a group that's fighting for
0:31.7	black liberation
0:33.2	and report back to the Memphis Police Department.
0:35.4	The kneeling man coming up on a word with me,
0:38.0	Jason Johnson.
0:39.0	Stay with us.
0:40.8	This message comes from NPR sponsor Frick Madison, the temporary home of the Frick Collection.
0:46.0	For a limited time, experience masterpieces from the Renaissance to the early 20th century
0:51.0	reframed in the iconic Breyer building on New York's upper east side.
0:55.0	Explore the special exhibition Bellini and Georgoni in the house of Tadeo Contarini.
1:00.0	Frick Madison, Classic Art, Modern Setting.
1:02.9	Open Thursday through Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
1:05.6	reserve tickets at Frick.org. Welcome to a word a podcast about race and politics and everything else. I'm your host
1:18.7	Jason Johnson. The flattening of black history into a simple story of good guys and bad guys
1:24.8	started long before the debates over critical race theory.
1:27.8	In the current era, Martin Luther King Jr.
1:29.8	is almost universally hailed as a hero, but up until the time of his death he was treated as a
1:34.4	dangerous man and a threat to the nation who needed to be watched. Part of that story
	...

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