It's Friday. We'll follow up on the move to exonerate two men convicted in the assassination of Malcolm X. We'll also look at how Mayor Bill de Blasio once again hopes to ban horse-drawn carriages. |
 | | Malcolm X in 1964. Associated Press |
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The guilty verdict against him in the 1965 murder of the civil rights leader Malcolm X was about to be thrown out. But first, he addressed the court in a solemn voice that did not waver: "I am an 83-year-old who was victimized by the criminal justice system." |
Aziz and his co-defendant Khalil Islam, who died in 2009, were cleared on Thursday, their convictions overturned by Justice Ellen Biben of State Supreme Court in Manhattan. The Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr., had submitted a 43-page motion written with the lawyers for the two men asking that she vacate the convictions. When she did so, the courtroom burst into applause. |
The extraordinary moment came after a 22-month review of the case initiated by Vance's office and conducted jointly with the men's lawyers. It found that they had not been given a fair trial. It reached the same conclusions that historians and scholars had arrived at years earlier: The case against the two men was dubious. No physical evidence tied Aziz and Islam to the murder. Both had alibis. |
Vance apologized on behalf of all law enforcement. Aziz and two of Islam's sons made it clear that they did not consider it a day of celebration. |
"I hope the same system that was responsible for this travesty of justice also takes responsibility for the immeasurable harm it caused to me," Aziz said, adding that his conviction was part of a corrupt process "that is all too familiar to Black people, even in 2021." |
A third man, Mujahid Abdul Halim, was also found guilty in the 1966 trial. He confessed to the murder but insisted that Aziz and Islam were innocent. His conviction stands; he was granted work-release in 1988 and paroled in 2010. |
If you missed that partial lunar eclipse during the night, here's what to expect today: Sun and temps in the mid-40s instead. The eclipse-less evening will be mostly clear with temps in the mid-30s. |
In effect until Nov. 25 (Thanksgiving Day). |
A carriage ban? De Blasio tries again. |
With six weeks left in office, Mayor Bill de Blasio is resurrecting an old campaign pledge to ban horse-drawn carriages in New York City. |
The de Blasio administration is preparing legislation that would phase out carriages in Central Park and elsewhere, replacing them with "show cars," according to internal City Hall emails marked "confidential." The emails did not explain what "show cars" are, but in the past, proponents of a ban have pushed to replace horse-drawn vehicles with electric-powered ones that look like old-fashioned carriages. |
My colleague Dana Rubinstein writes that the City Council would have to approve a carriage ban, and in the emails, city officials indicated that they wanted to have a bill ready by Dec. 16, the last scheduled City Council meeting before de Blasio leaves office. |
Danielle Filson, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said that de Blasio had always wanted a ban on ban horse-drawn carriages and that he hoped the City Council would again consider one. |
Proponents of a ban have long argued that the horses are mistreated, a claim that carriage drivers like Christina Hansen deny. |
"Here we are, in the middle of New York's great recovery from the pandemic, the international tourists are coming back, Broadway is reopening, and they're coming back and taking carriage rides," she said. "The Christmas carriage ride is a New York City tradition. And here you've got Bill de Blasio playing the Grinch." |
A highway sign is changed |
 | | Mark Kauzlarich/Bloomberg |
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"Sometimes it's the little things that make all the difference," Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal said, "but for a lot of people on the West Side, this wasn't a little thing." |
Rosenthal, a Democrat who represents the Upper West Side of Manhattan, was talking about an adopt-a-highway sign on the southbound side of the West Side Highway near the West 79th Street exit. In the middle, in larger letters, was the name Donald J. Trump. |
It was taken down about 10 days ago. Alana Morales, a spokeswoman for the city's Department of Transportation, said the agreement between the Trump Organization and the maintenance contractor for that stretch of the West Side Highway had expired on Nov. 7. "Therefore," she said by email, "the sign was removed." |
Morales said the new adopt-a-highway sponsor for that stretch of road was Glenwood Management, a politically influential real estate developer of high-rise apartment buildings. |
It was not immediately clear how much it cost to sponsor the roughly four miles in question. Sponsors pay one of three private maintenance providers directly. An email to Adopt a Highway Maintenance Corporation, the company responsible for that section of the West Side Highway, was not immediately answered. Nor did the Trump Organization respond to an email seeking comment. |
Richard Robbins, who runs a company that places college and graduate students in internships in the life sciences, circulated a petition demanding the sign's removal after he read the Department of Transportation's rules on the adopt-a-highway program, which he said barred candidates for office from taking part. More than 1,600 people signed the petition |
"I think that the petition struck a nerve because people were offended that Trump would be associated with 'beautification,'" a term Robbins said was at odds with what "to many of us his name alone signifies." |
Rosenthal said she had contacted Henry Gutman, the transportation commissioner, and other officials in his department. "I was gently prodding them, sometimes more urgently, to get rid of that sign," she said. "It caused so many people agita." |
My husband and I were leaving our community garden on West 48th Street. Wanting coffee, we walked west toward the Hudson. |
On our way, we stopped to chat with a parks worker who was holding an aerosol spray can while trying to remove some graffiti from the sign with the maple leaf logo hanging outside the park at 48th Street and Tenth Avenue. |
We admired his work and discussed the quality of the graffiti. |
"What are you using to remove that?" my husband asked. |
The man glanced down at the label of the can and then looked back up. |
"Graffiti remover," he said. |
Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B. |
Melissa Guerrero, Jeffrey Furticella, Rick Martinez and Olivia Parker contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@nytimes.com. |
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