Malcolm's Assassin Paroled

I was out sick yesterday, so I missed the news that the one man who admitted to killing Malcolm X, Thomas Hagan (aka Talmadge X Hayer) has been freed on parole.

All the non-violent drug offenders locked up in New York prisons and they let a guy go who assassinated a good man in front of an audience that included his wife and kids?

As has been well documented, Hagan admitted to the slaying but denied that the other two men convicted in the murder were involved. In the WaPo write-up:

Hagan acknowledged that he was one of three men who shot Malcolm X in front of a crowd of hundreds - including several of his young children - as the civil rights leader began a speech at Harlem's Audubon Ballroom on Feb. 21, 1965. Two other accomplices created a distraction in the audience, Hagan has said.

But he said the two men convicted with him were not involved. They, too, maintained their innocence and were paroled in the 1980s. No one else has ever been charged, a fact that has perpetuated debate and theories surrounding the slaying.

Hmm. Now, who would be the best person to put to bed any debates and theories about the assassination? How about that sonofabitch they just let walk out the front door?!?!?!

The man obviously knows who else was involved, and I have my own suspicions, but for having "repeatedly expressed sorrow for being one of the gunmen" that killed Malcolm, one would think that a condition of his parole would be forthrightness in pointing out who else was involved in the criminal conspiracy to murder that man.

But no.

Hagan and the rest of Malcolm's murderers are free. 45 years later, and the injustice continues.

El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, RIP.

Ossie Davis's moving eulogy at Malcolm's funeral, retold for the film in this clip. (To pass the reenactment of the murder, skip to 3:30 mark):