When the O. J. Simpson verdict was introduced, I used to be a junior at Michigan State College. On the time, I used to be the managing editor of my faculty newspaper, The State Information, so I didn’t have the posh of reacting emotionally by some means. I had the duty of determining how our publication was going to current to 40,000 college students this beautiful consequence to what many had referred to as “the trial of the century.”
However as I watched the decision on the TV in our faculty newsroom, I instantly understood why a number of the white staffers on the paper reacted with seen disgust—and why loads of my Black associates felt relieved, even joyous, that Simpson had been discovered not responsible of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her buddy, Ronald Goldman. Though, again in 1995, everybody was conscious of the racial divide on this nation, the trial supplied stark proof of simply how sharp it was.
As a scholar journalist, I understood that this was a big piece of the story. The predominantly African American jury’s not-guilty verdict appeared inseparable from the deep mistrust Black individuals had in legislation enforcement, however I didn’t see it as a second to have a good time. Simpson’s soccer achievements had acquired due recognition—he was a Heisman Trophy winner and an NFL Corridor of Famer. However athletic prowess apart, he had lengthy since distanced himself from the Black neighborhood. Purposely so, and he appeared to enjoy his distinctive proximity to white America. To my thoughts, the message that the decision despatched about Black skepticism towards the criminal-justice system couldn’t be indifferent from its far-from-ideal messenger.
When Simpson’s loss of life was introduced by his household on Thursday, the racial divide that the trial had uncovered got here again to the floor. The CNN contributor Ashley Allison, a coverage adviser for former President Barack Obama who had additionally labored on President Joe Biden’s marketing campaign, mentioned on air that the Simpson trial “represented one thing for the Black neighborhood” as a result of it put a highlight on the racial inequity that Black individuals generally face within the criminal-justice system. Marc Lamont Hill, an anthropology and urban-education professor and a media commentator, summarized Simpson’s profession on X on this method: “O.J. Simpson was an abusive liar who deserted his neighborhood lengthy earlier than he killed two individuals in chilly blood. His acquittal for homicide was the proper and essential results of a racist legal authorized system. However he’s nonetheless a monster, not a martyr.” Each have been harshly criticized by right-leaning retailers. Regardless of a gradual provide of proof that the criminal-justice system does certainly deal with Black individuals in a different way, pointing this out within the context of the Simpson case nonetheless brings condemnation for Black advocates who achieve this.
Amongst different reactions to the information of Simpson’s loss of life, Torrey Smith, a former NFL participant who can be Black, blasted media retailers for relying closely on Simpson’s courtroom photographs within the protection of his loss of life—in his view, thus relitigating Simpson’s acquittal. In the meantime, Caitlyn Jenner, whose ex-wife, Kris Jenner, was finest associates with Nicole Brown Simpson, posted “Good Riddance” on her X account. The truth that we’re nonetheless arguing about O.J. reveals that we haven’t come so far as we should always have, partly as a result of too many white individuals misunderstand the response amongst many Black individuals to his acquittal within the first place.
What they miss is that if Black individuals cared about Simpson’s trial, and the way in which it uncovered cracks within the criminal-justice system, they by no means cared a lot about Simpson the person. As a sports activities journalist, I’ve talked to numerous individuals over time about these questions. I’ve discovered that Simpson was not the cultural fixture within the Black neighborhood that some white individuals assumed he was, and apparently proceed to imagine he’s. As Simpson appreciated to inform individuals, “I’m not Black, I’m O.J.” I took Simpson at his phrase and so did many others.
By comparability, such infamous abusers as Invoice Cosby, R. Kelly, and now Diddy have a a lot stronger cultural maintain. All three have been accused of abusing ladies (in Kelly’s case, truly convicted), but some ambivalence persists within the Black neighborhood about their standing and their work—every nonetheless has defenders or followers who appear prepared to both stick by their icon or withhold judgment.
With Simpson, no such relationship exists. Simply because many Black individuals imagine that his acquittal was the right verdict—and, sure, some celebrated when it got here down—doesn’t imply that Simpson was our man. And who was that man? In 2008, Simpson was convicted of a number of fees referring to an armed theft through which he and associates broke right into a Las Vegas resort room to retrieve objects that he claimed had been stolen from him. Simpson was sentenced to 33 years in jail however served about 9 earlier than being launched in 2021.
Some individuals could have seen his conviction and imprisonment in that case as some form of payback for his homicide acquittal, however—in my circles, at the least—virtually nobody claimed Simpson as a misunderstood political determine, not to mention a hero. Together with his profession as a sports activities commentator, his appearances in advertisements, and his film roles, O.J. achieved an virtually distinctive stage of acceptance—as a star, he arguably meant extra to white America than he did to Black America. So if something, in my expertise, some white People appeared extra upset than Black individuals ever have been that Simpson wasn’t who they thought he was.
Put merely, he was a once-great athlete who turned out to be a horrible individual. The mingled legacy of his superstar and criminality is that his homicide trial compelled our nation into troublesome conversations—notably about home violence and the way, no matter race, fame can defend individuals like Simpson from penalties. Above all, although, Simpson’s loss of life is a reminder of how far this nation nonetheless has to go to heal the racial rift that his homicide trial so mercilessly uncovered.
