Extradition is not an automatic operation. It is not even a legal imperative, but an agreement between governors or heads of state to return a person accused of a crime. Last spring. Sargent refused to send another black. Willie Ford, back to Alabama, placing him instead on executive parole, a legal form he created for the case. Under executive parole. Ford is free to continue to live in Massachusetts, so long as he lives within the law.

There has been much speculation about why the Governor signed the papers. His offical answer, given at an airport press conference after he had been besieged by a large group of Hakim's supporters, was that the severity of the charges against Albert Bradford--rape is a capital crime in Missouri--dictated that he allow the matter to be settled in court. However, other factors may well have played a part in the decision. The Governor seems to be assuming that Hakim can get a fairer trial in Missouri on a capital offense than Willie Ford could have received in Alabama on lesser charge. Certain members of the Governor's staff are also believed to have personal contentions with Hakim. Finally, it is argued by some that Sargent may well be thinking of what effect his holding of a convicted rapist could have on his own chances for national office, given the law and order temper of the times.

What influence, if any, these factors had on the Governor's decision is difficult, if not impossible, to determine. What is clear is that unless the Governor changes his mind--he can stop the extradition at any time--Hakim will be returned to Missouri. If he is, he will go back to jail, perhaps for the rest of his life: because even if he were to clear himself of the rape charge, the violation of his parole will send him back to the joint.

At any rate, Hakim will not be going back immediately. On October 22, his lawyer, David Nelson, appeared in Equity Session of Suffolk Superior Court, and obtained a restraining order postponing the execution of the extradition order to December 17. In the mean time, efforts are being made in Missouri to overturn his original conviction. Nelson has also filed a writ of habeas corpus in an attempt to kill the extradition proceedings.

However, all of these efforts are hampered by the lack of money and influence at the disposal of Hakim's supporters. Hakim is King of a powerless kingdom.

VI

At the end of our interview, Malik Hakim leaned back against the piled pillows on his bed in the jail ward. "You know the first thing I thought when I landed in here was that I had failed. You know, that I hadn't done half the things I had wanted to do, and that there wasn't going to be no second chance. Sometimes I think that was what must have been going through Malcolm's mind after they shot him. Then that little girl, you know, the one who was in here before you. She's just 16, man, but I watch the way she moves around, talks to the press and the police. I watch just the way she is. Somehow it makes me think that I just might have done something.