this is "nightline." >> tonight, nfl under fire. former dolphins head coach brian flores suing the league. >> it's a slap in the face. it's unacceptable, makes me angry. >> calling out some teams, accusing them of racist hiring practices. >> i don't think anyone who's ever looked at the nfl would say, oh, yeah, it's definitely fair. >> the fight for more black coaches. where the legal battle may lead. >> we've sent demands to preserve all the communications, text messages, emails. we're coming for them. plus, exonerated. one of the men wrongfully convicted of killing malcolm x. his first interview since his name was cleared. >> nobody was listening. >> but the world is listening

now. >> oh, yeah. >> why the investigation was reopened. >> accountability lies in our justice system. >> abc news groundbreaking series "soul of the nation" returns with "exonerated: the murder of malcolm x 55 years to justice." [♪] if you have diabetes, it's important to have confidence in the nutritional drink you choose. try boost glucose control®. it's clinically shown to help manage blood sugar levels and contains high quality protein to help manage hunger and support muscle health. try boost® today. ♪ ♪ no, no, no. have some more ♪ ♪ i love you, too. ♪ ♪

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good evening. thank you for joining us. brian flores is currently a football head coach without a job. but his lawsuit has grabbed the attention of all 32 nfl teams. flores' claims of systematic racism in the league have put everyone on notice and some on the defensive. here's "nightline's" ashan singh. >> why wouldn't i be afforded the opportunity to truly show what i can do? because i am a good coach and i know how to lead. >> reporter: brian flores, former nfl head coach of the miami dolphins, calling out the nfl. >> it's a slap in the face. that's unacceptable, makes me angry, makes me sad, too. >> reporter: in an expolosive lawsuit, flores is accusing the nfl of being rife with racism especially when it comes to head coaches and executives. >> every player, coach, executive -- this being the year 2022, we're dealing with the same things. >> reporter: this bombshell allegation comes less than two weeks away from this year's super bowl. with millions of fans looking

forward to watching the star-studded halftime show and the big game. but now the league rocked by yet another crisis. >> i just want to read you a statement from the lawsuit. describing the owners watching the games, quote, from the top nfl stadiums in their luxury blacks while their majority black workforce put their bodies on the line every sunday. you say the nfl is racially segregated and managed much like a plantation. those are really strong words. >> the words are to inspire change. >> reporter: the lawsuit names the league and three teams as being complicit in racist practices. >> there's one black head coach in the national football league. 70% black players. there's not enough people of color in the executive and higher coaching level positions. >> reporter: the nfl has refuted flores' claims, saying the nfl and our clubs are deeply committed to ensuring equitable employment practices and continue to make prodress in providing equitable opportunities throughout our organizations. diversity is core to everything

we do, and there are few issues on which our clubs and internal leadership team spend more time. we will defend against these claims, which are without merit. >> do you think this case will hold up in court? >> the first step is whether or not this case survives summary judgment. you know the nfl and the three teams are going to say, this case should be squashed because it's meritless, as they've already said. i think it's going to get past that stage. what's really going to happen is whether or not the nfl wants to settle before people start getting deposed. >> in your legal opinion, the nfl wants none of that? >> the nfl wants no one deposed. they want no one under oath talking about what they knew and present when because it's a pr nightmare. >> reporter: flores claims his most recent hiring experience with the new york giants was an example of discrimination, allege is patriots coach bill belichick mistakenly texted flores congratulations for landing the lions job three days before he is interview. >> i thought i got the job.

>> and you hadn't interviewed? >> i hadn't interviewed. i thought based on my time in miami in new england, i was in serious consideration for that position. given the fact that i hadn't even interviewed, it was -- it just -- it didn't feel right. >> reporter: flores claims in a text response back he asked belichick if he was talking to brian flores or brian daboll. die bol, who is white, had also been interviewing. belichick responds saying he had mistakenly texted flores, that he had heard they were naming daboll. >> there's a humiliation that came over me, that i thought i had -- was in position to take a job with the new york giants. >> you guys plan to depose bill belichick? >> absolutely, we're coming for him. we've sent with our complaint demands to preserve all the communications, text messages, emails. so while we know there's a lot of backroom dealings, we're coming for them. >> reporter: the giants told abc news that they interviewed an impressive and diverse group of candidates, with flores being in the conversation to be their

head coach until the 11th hour, and that they ultimately hired the individual they thought was the most qualified to be the next head coach. >> that's very carefully written. if they actually had not given the job to brian daboll, they would have said when coach flores went for the interview, the job was still open. they didn't say that. >> reporter: he went through the giants interview anyway. >> i put my best foot forward, tried to show them why i was more than just a running rule candidate. >> the running rule was proposed as a way to ensure that at least minorities were represented in the process. >> reporter: rod graves is the executive prer for the fritz pollard alliance, a group that advocates for diversity within the nfl. >> what it required is that when you have open positions, particularly a head coach or general manager, you are required to interview at least one minority candidate. >> it's been almost 20 years since the rule was implemented, and here we are today. you have one black head coach,

no black owners. point blank, has the rudy rule been a failure? >> we have a lot of people in the pipeline today that i think are capable of stepping into those jobs. it's not that the people aren't there, it's that they haven't been chosen to lead. and i think that's the bigger issue. >> reporter: flores has been coaching for over 14 years and was considered one of the most sought-after coaches in this offseason. he served as the assistant coach for the new england patriots for ten years before becoming a head coach for the miami dolphins in 2019. flores turned the struggling team around. leading the team to a stunning upset against the rival patriots in 2019. but three years later, despite a winning record, flores was fired, allegedly for poor collaboration. flores believes the reason is much more insidious than that. you also make the damning allegation that dolphins owner steven ross offered you money to

untensionally tank in the hopes of a higher draft pick. why include that? >> because i think that's part of the reason why i was let go. i was asked to tank. this game's given a lot to me, so to insult the integrity of the game, to disrespect the game, was something i wasn't going to play in. i think ultimately not partaking in that tanking cost me my job. >> reporter: the dolphins veem meantly denied any allegations of racial discrimination and added, the implication they acted in a manner inconsistent with the integrity of the game is incorrect. flores' lawsuit calls out the practice known as race norming. a formula the nf used in their concussion settlement that assumes black players start at a lower cognitive level than white players. critics say the practice made it harder for black players to qualify for compensation. >> they basically were rating black players, former players, at a lower cognitive ability

than white players. and so it just gives you how they view black people as being inferior intellectually to white people. >> reporter: the nfl removed race norming from the settlement agreement last year after a series of abc news reports, saying that the nfl is committed to helping find alternative testing techniques that will lead to diagnostic accuracy without employing race-based norms. since the news of flores' lawsuit broke, nfl players are speaking out. including former star quarterback robert griffin iii, who tweeted, brian flores effectively had to end his chances at coaching in the nfl to point out what we already know about discrimination in the hiring process for head coaches in the nfl. >> it was really me tweeting out in support of brian flores. to just elaborate on it, he ended his coaching career in my personal opinion, because he sued the nfl. and any time you rage against the machine, the machine normally doesn't invite you back after that. >> you played the game yourself,

former rookie of the year. when you were on the field, did you share or do you share any of the sentiments that coach flores was alleging? >> the experiences that i think he was more speaking to is what black coaches have notoriously talked about. they get interviewed just to fulfill the rooney rule. i think that's what brian flores was getting across. he came with receipts, and too often the organization were only interviewing block coaches so they could check a box, they have no intention of hiring. >> when a coach of color is fired after a winning season, what does the ownership tell the locker room? especially when that locker room is predominantly black? >> it doesn't all make sense, but that's the catch-22 in the nfl. players' careers are so short that they don't worry about that. so right now with brian flores coming up and speaking out, more and more players you see are starting to speak out because they understand that if they don't say anything, it will

never impact change. >> i've heard from a lot of players. i appreciate their support. and i'm doing this for them and their children. because a lot of them are black players. and they see that there's the need for change. >> reporter: flores says he's interviewed for openings with the houston texans and the new orleans saints, and he's waiting to hear back. the future of his career remains uncertain. do you think you'll an head coach in the nfl again? >> i'm hopeful that i will be. i know i can lead. >> people are saying this could torpedo your career. are you ready for that? >> if my career is torpedoed and there's change, if there's change, it will be worth it. >> our thanksto ashan. up next, justice served 55 years later. one of the men wrongfully convicted of killing malcolm x speaks out. with rybelsus®. the majority of people taking rybelsus®

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♪ one of the men wrongfully convicted of killing malcolm x is finally getting to have his say. mohammad aziz and khalil islam were exonerated last year. both spent decades in prison and only one lived to see his innocence acknowledged. malcolm x. revolutionary. civil rights leader. firebrand. >> we invested 310 years of slave labor. they can give us the back pay. >> reporter: his assassination inside harlem's autobahn bam room in 1965 was a baum to the guilty of america.

of the three found guilty of his murder, two were wrongfully convicted. >> two people were not inside of the ballroom the day malcolm was shot. >> reporter: their case finally reopened, a correcting a miscarriage of justice. >> we are moving to vacate the convictions of mohammad aziz and khalil islam for the assassination of malcolm x. >> nobody was listening. >> but the world is listening now. >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: by 1965, malcolm x had enemies. he had split from the nation of islam, and he was under surveillance by the fbi. >> there's a moment in 1964 when j. edgar hoover, the fbi director, sends a telegram to his office located in new york. and basically he says, quote, do something about malcolm x. >> the role that the fbi played, they knew how to exploit, right,

the tensions. and they spread suspicion and hatred through the ranks against malcolm. >> reporter: on february 21st, 1965, it all came to a head. just as malcolm x was to deliver a speech at the audobon ballroom. >> he walked out onto the stage. a man stepped up 15 feet from the stage. he crouched. took perfect aim and blasted right through the lectern into malcolm's heart. >> reporter: one gunman, talmadge heir, now mujahadid alim, fred tled the scene and w arrested. >> did they say what you were arrested with? >> killing malcolm x. >> reporter: witnesses said they had seen azizs in the ballroom

with a fire arm. the but he says he had been home that day. >> i didn't have anything to do with the killing of malcolm x. >> who else was home with you that day? >> my wife and children. >> as they say in court, you had an alibi? >> yes. >> reporter: heir confessed but aziz and islam maintained their evidence. >> when it came clear to talmadge heir that he was going to be convicted, he confessed his role in the murder. but he said, these two men, they're innocent, they had nothing to do with it. but the jury didn't believe him. and all three of them were convicted. in april of 1966. >> reporter: mohammad aziz was sentenced to life in prison. >> people knew why you were there, that you were one of the men convicted of killing malcolm. >> yeah. >> were there threats because of that? >> to me, no. >> yes, sir. >> no. the people knew i didn't do it.

nobody ever thought i did it. just white people. our people never thought i did it. >> reporter: in 1977 and '78, tall los angeles heir, the man who years ago confessed to killing malcolm x, signed affidavits saying, not only did islam and aziz not kill malcolm x, he for the first time named his coconspirators. and based on those signed affidavits from talmadge heir, aziz and islam appeal their convictions. but those appeals were denied. aziz was eventually paroled in 1985, after spending 20 years in prison. but his innocence was still in question. until 2020, when then manhattan district attorney cyrus vance reopened the case. vance sat down with my colleague, pierre thomas. >> what was it that was presented to you that made you think, maybe we should look at this? >> clearly the malcolm x case and his assassination was hugely

important historically. >> the amount of information here is like nothing we've ever seen in a wrongful conviction case. >> reporter: the joint team found evidence that the fbi had withheld documents that could have exonerated aziz and islam. >> it appeared to have been held intentionally. withheld intentionally. >> was it coming from the top? >> clearly j. edgar hoover in the fbi records had apparently issued orders that information was not to be shared with nypd. while that was being done, presumably for no good reason. >> reporter: aziz's conviction relied on eyewitness testimony, now discredited. >> now we know we have no evidence about what kind of identification procedures actually had happened. were they done at the standards that we would require today? it's a complete empty notebook on how the identifications were made. >> reporter: finally, 55 years after aziz's conviction, exonerated. with his family by his side. khalil islam posthumously

exonerated as well. >> we are moving today to vacate the convictions of mohammad aziz and khalil islam for the assassination of malcolm x. >> the joint motion is hereby granted. [ applause ] >> at the end of the day, what is the accountability in law for mr. aziz and mr. islam? >> well, the accountability lies in our justice system. i think period, full stop. whether you call it the police or the fbi or the prosecutors. >> reporter: mohammad aziz and the estate of khalil islam are filing several multimillion-dollar lawsuits. >> we are pointing our fingers at the government officials and saying, you need to be held responsible for what you did here. you destroyed many lives, not just the lives of mohammad and khalil. >> you've gotten your good name back. >> well, i never lost it. other people did what they did

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tomorrow night, "soul of a nation" returns for two hours here on abc. a look at black women changing hollywood, plus more of my interview with mohammad aziz. we'll leave you with this thought from malcolm x. quote, you can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom. that's "nightline" for this evening. thanks for the com