Malcolm X and Ahmaud Arbery verdicts: Progress but not a victory against systemic racism

Both the trials of Kyle Rittenhouse and Ahmaud Arbery's murderers have been viewed by many as representing much more than two individual cases, and are part of the US's undeniable reckoning with white supremacy.  

Rittenhouse has walked free, following proceedings and a trial in which the presiding judge was accused of showing an obvious favourable bias towards Rittenhouse. Meanwhile, Ahmaud Arbery's killers have been found guilty of murder, and await sentencing. 

Once again, both trials have kick-started intense conversations regarding racism, structural white supremacy and the criminal justice system.

"This very system and the social order surrounding it is not broken, it is simply operating as it was designed and exactly as intended"

For some, Ahmaud Arbery's killers being found guilty proves vindication that the system, though flawed, can work and justice is possible in a land where it is often evasive. For others, the fact Kyle Rittenhouse remains a free man after actively going to an anti-police brutality protest and killing two people, offers a withering condemnation of a persistent and deeply flawed system.

But, as these debates rage on, a piece of news rocked the United States, which puts things clearly in sharp context: Two of the men falsely accused of killing Malcolm X have been exonerated by a New York court.  

The new investigation, triggered by the hugely popular Netflix series, "Who killed Malcolm X?", found that the New York Police Department (NYPD) and the FBI withheld vital evidence that cleared Khalil Islam (now deceased) and Muhammad Abdul Aziz, now aged 83, of any wrongdoing.

Instead, both men, who always protested their innocence, spent more than two decades behind bars for a murder they never committed. Both men suffered irreparable damage - from the theft of their time to the emotional damage to their families. Khalil Islam, in particular, is said to have suffered terribly as a result of his wrongful incarceration. Both men and their families have also had to live with the stigma and false perception of being linked to the murder of one of the most revered, loved, and respected Black Muslim leaders in human history.

Of course, the rightful justice for Malcolm X and his family never occurred. Only one of Malcolm X's real killers faced jail time, and even that man, Mujahid Halim (formerly known as Talmadge Hayer), always insisted on the innocence of Khalil Islam and Muhammad Aziz, eventually he named the alleged real killers.

Authorities have suggested that the failure to catch Malcolm X's real assassins, while jailing two men who had nothing to do with the crime, was merely a result of incompetence and errors. Lawyers of the wrongly convicted men, as well as representing many others, have suggested a cover-up, pointing to more nefarious and deliberate attempts to pervert the course of justice.

Those critical of systemic racism in the United States, and its history, are well aware of the precedent in which Black people were and continue to be punished for crimes they did not commit. They are victims of the US's social order.

This very system and the social order surrounding it is not broken, it is simply operating as it was designed and exactly as intended.

People have understandably celebrated the conviction of Ahmaud Arbery's killers.  Like in the case of Malcolm X, some within the local government in Brunswick in the Georgian state were accused of being involved in a cover-up; such as former District Attorney Jackie Johnson, to protect Ahmaud Arbery's murderers. What has really changed between 1965 and now?

One thing is certain: Although we await the sentencing related to Arbery's killers - the McMichaels and William Bryan - the very fact that the most basic level of justice in the United States is a cause for celebration should be an uncomfortable reminder of the depth in which injustice has steeped within the United States's legal system.

My father in Cairo weeks before he’d be assassinated at age 39. Despite following his every move an FBI informant called him, “a man of high moral character who neither smokes nor drinks.” He spoke truth to power, and we know that truth is timeless. Rest In Peace, Dad 2/21/1965🌟 pic.twitter.com/EHZPom8y1A

— ILYASAH❌SHABAZZ (@ilyasahShabazz) February 21, 2021

What is also incredible is that the courthouse in New York which exonerated Khalil Islam and Muhammad Abdul Aziz is the very same court that had wrongly convicted both these men of Malcolm’s murder more than fifty years ago. 

One can only imagine how Aziz, formerly known as Norman Butler, must be feeling about all of this. He received no apology nor was compensation given to him or his family for all those lost years. Nevertheless, his name has rightfully been cleared and is the least that he deserves.

Also in recent days, we have learned of the tragic news that one of Malcolm X's daughters, Malikah Shabazz, has passed away. She was 56 years old. Malikah never met her father, since she was born several months after Malcolm's assassination, but she did live long enough to see the names of those wrongly accused of her father's murder scrubbed from the historical record.

"The very same, wicked system that allowed Malcolm X's murderers to evade justice and had a hand in his murder, and is inherently corrupted by white supremacy, continues to operate today"

Ultimately, huge credit and respect must be given to Abdur-Rahman Muhammad for the work he undertook to produce the Netflix series, "Who killed Malcolm X?". Without spoiling too much away for those who have yet to see the documentary, the argument made in identifying the alleged culprits behind Malcolm X's murder is extremely compelling and appears water-tight in its argument.

The very same, wicked system that allowed Malcolm X's murderers to evade justice and had a hand in his murder, and is inherently corrupted by white supremacy, continues to operate today. As Muhammad Abdul Aziz aptly summarized in an address to the court on the day of his exoneration:

"The event which brought us to court today should never have occurred. Those events were and are the result of a process that was corrupt to its core, one that is all too familiar to Black people in 2021."

Richard Sudan is a journalist and writer specialising in anti-racism and has reported on various human rights issues from around the world. His writing has been published by The Guardian, Independent, The Voice and many others. 

Follow him on Twitter: @richardsudan

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Opinions expressed here are the author's own, and do not necessarily reflect those of their employer, or of The New Arab and its editorial board or staff.