Son of Khalil Islam is happy his father's been exonerated in Malcom X killing, 'but there's still sadness'

The son of newly-exonerated Khalil Islam, who was wrongfully convicted in the 1965 assasination of Malcolm X, explained Thursday that while he's happy a judge cleared his late father's name, sadness nevertheless lingers.

"It almost sounds casual to me that he's been exonerated," said Shahid Johnson, Islam's son, "so the great pleasure's not there because he's not here with me." On Thursday, a Manhattan judge exonerated both Johnson's father and Muhammad Aziz in the murder of Malcolm X, a crime both had long denied committing. Islam died in 2009.

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Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.