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 come what may. I had the accountability of determining how our publication was going to current to 40,000 college students this beautiful consequence to what many had known as “the trial of the century.”
However as I watched the decision on the TV in our faculty newsroom, I instantly understood why a few of the white staffers on the paper reacted with seen disgust—and why quite a lot of my Black buddies 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 pupil 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 folks 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 experience 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 demise 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, stated 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 folks 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 means: “O.J. Simpson was an abusive liar who deserted his neighborhood lengthy earlier than he killed two folks in chilly blood. His acquittal for homicide was the right and needed 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 folks otherwise, pointing this out within the context of the Simpson case nonetheless brings condemnation for Black advocates who accomplish that.
Amongst different reactions to the information of Simpson’s demise, 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 demise—in his view, thus relitigating Simpson’s acquittal. In the meantime, Caitlyn Jenner, whose ex-wife, Kris Jenner, was finest buddies 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, partially as a result of too many white folks misunderstand the response amongst many Black folks to his acquittal within the first place.
What they miss is that if Black folks 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 folks over time about these questions. I’ve discovered that Simpson was not the cultural fixture within the Black neighborhood that some white folks assumed he was, and apparently proceed to imagine he’s. As Simpson favored to inform folks, “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 girls (in Kelly’s case, really 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 folks 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 prices referring to an armed theft by 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 folks might have seen his conviction and imprisonment in that case as some type of payback for his homicide acquittal, however—in my circles, no less than—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 adverts, and his film roles, O.J. achieved an nearly 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 Individuals appeared extra upset than Black folks 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 particular person. The mingled legacy of his superstar and criminality is that his homicide trial compelled our nation into tough conversations—notably about home violence and the way, no matter race, fame can defend folks like Simpson from penalties. Above all, although, Simpson’s demise is a reminder of how far this nation nonetheless has to go to heal the racial rift that his homicide trial so mercilessly uncovered.
