Let the world see the murderers of civil rights

On an evening in April 1957, a young man with black skin was brutally beaten by the police in a country where racism reigns. Another man who tried to question this brutality was even more brutally beaten by the police until his head cracked open. He was then taken away in handcuffs. A youth leader who came to know of the incident, accompanied by a few followers, requested the authorities to see and treat the beaten young man. At first, they refused. But the police relented after seeing the crowd of youth leader's followers outside. By the time he was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and returned after treatment, the crowd in front of the station had swelled tenfold. At the point where he is assured that the beaten man will get justice and bail, the leader gestures to the crowd without saying a word. Accordingly, more than four thousand followers depart peacefully. The incident took place in New York City. The man who surprised American media and police was Alhaj Malik al-Shahbaz aka Malcolm X who kept inspiring oppressed communities across the world even after his death.

It is only natural that a civil rights activist with such influence and command becomes an eyesore for the government. Especially if they are from a marginalised community. They all combined in the case of Malcolm X. He and the organisation called Nation of Islam, with which he worked, were constantly pursued by the police and secret agents of the government, including those who pretended to be journalists. The 'smart kids' appointed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were recruited into key positions in the Nation of Islam. By the time he severed ties with the organisation after seven years over disagreements and ideological conflicts, he had become a civil rights activist of international attention and importance - a constant headache for the racist US government.

Also read: Men to get $26mn compensation for their wrongful conviction in Malcolm X's murder

After leaving the organisation, Malcolm X received constant threats from his old colleagues. Finally, on February 21, 1965, during the Manhattan conference of his newly formed Organisation of Afro-American Unity, three assailants burst into the conference room and opened fire. The post-mortem report said that 21 bullets had penetrated his body. The accused were Nation of Islam activists Talmadge Haier (Mujahid Abdul Halim), Norman Butler (Mohammed Abdul Aziz), and Thomas Johnson (Khalil Islam). Haier, who admitted his involvement during the trial, repeatedly said that the other two had no role in the incident and that some others had planned and executed the incident. But the court ignored it. However, Norman Butler (Mohammed Abdul Aziz) and Thomas Johnson (Khalil Islam), who were sentenced to decades in prison, were acquitted by the Manhattan court in 2021 after being convinced that the authorities had detained them. After 58 years, Malcolm X's daughter Ilyasa Shahbaz has now declared that she will start a legal battle, pointing out that the FBI, CIA, and the police were involved in her father's murder. Her lawyer, Benjamin Crump, accuses the bigwigs of the US government of being part of this murderous conspiracy. Many people had raised this issue in the days following the murder too.

Also read: Malcolm X's daughter says she's suing FBI, CIA, NYPD for his murder

Had that revolutionary not been killed at the age of 39, the face of modern America and the global civil rights community would have been different. The people behind those bullets are the ones who cannot accept such a world. Authorities have not responded to the allegations. There is no way that the US administration, which is trying to teach the world politeness wearing the cloak of human rights, wouldn't admit to that easily. If this legal battle proceeds properly, the legacy of Malcolm X will certainly cause more headaches for the administration than Malcolm X alive. As his family said, it's not the people who pulled the trigger, but the people who conspired to do it that need to be exposed to the world. Similarly, some murders that took place in India also need clarity. The world also needs to know who conspired to shoot at the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi, former Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya, Mumbai lawyer Shahid Azmi, writers Govind Pansare and M.M. Kalburgi, and journalist Gauri Lankesh among others Who would take up such a legal battle?