The trial of the century
O.J. Simpson died this week and I have conflicting emotions. O.J. was the only person who was able to cross over from athletic superstardom to cultural phenomenon. O.J. won the Heisman Trophy at USC and was the first pick in the 1969 NFL draft. He led the NFL in rushing four times and was the first player to gain 2,000 yards in a season and the only player to do it in only 14 games. PostNFL, O.J. gained national attention as the pitchman for Hertz. O.J. was the first Black man hired for a major corporate advertising campaign. We laugh at this today, but in 1975, this was a big thing. His Hollywood career included roles in “The Towering Inferno,” “Capricorn One” and “Roots.” He hosted an episode of “Saturday Night Live” and did “The Naked Gun” trilogy. O.J. was probably the most recognizable person in the country. O.J. used to tell everyone, “I'm not Black, I'm O.J.” That was his public persona.
O.J.'s private life was something completely different. He met Nicole Brown while he was then married and she was an 18-year-old waitress. It's estimated that 25% of women in the U.S. have suffered domestic abuse. Nicole Brown sustained 62 incidences of abuse. O.J. and Nicole divorced in 1992 and the abuse did not end there. It's one thing to beat your woman. It's another to butcher her.
In the early morning hours of June 13, 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were found stabbed to death outside of Nicole's Brentwood condo. Four days later, an arrest warrant was issued and Simpson's attorneys agreed he would turn himself in. Instead, the infamous Ford Bronco chase occurred on the 405 freeway. 95 million Americans were glued to their TVs watching the slow-moving white Bronco going south on the 405. Even more stunning was there was no traffic on a Friday after 5 p.m. as the CHP blocked all entries to the freeway. O.J. was finally arrested later that night.
O.J.'s legal defense was paid for by a book publisher who got to imbed a writer behind the scenes, who sat in on all legal strategy meetings with the caveat that he couldn't write a word until after the jury verdict. O.J.'s “Dream Team” consisted of Johnnie Cochran, Robert Kardashian (yes, that was the dad of the famous clan), Robert Shapiro, F. Lee Bailey and Alan Dershowitz. Cochran got the trial moved from the Westside (primarily white jury pool) to Downtown LA (predominately black jury pool). Cochran famously said, “Get me one Black juror, and I'll get a hung jury.” The jury ended up being 10 Blacks out of the 12 jurors. The trial was over before it started as the trial was no longer about murder but about race in America.
The trial went on for eight months. Evidence was introduced, including both victim's blood in O.J.'s car. One bloody glove was recovered at the crime scene, while the other single glove was found at O.J.'s house. The bloody glove was frozen in evidence. Cochran maneuvered to get O.J. to try on the glove in front of the jury. Of course, it didn't fit, it had shrunk. Who can forget, “If it doesn't fit, you must acquit.”
Once LAPD Detective Mark Fuhrman lied on the witness stand about “ever using the Nword,” this case was all about the decades of abuse the Black community suffered at the hands of the LAPD. The 1965 Watts riots. The 1992 Rodney King riots. DWB — Driving While Black. The Man is always trying to take down famous Black men. O.J. was just the latest victim! Didn't matter what the facts and evidence were, this trial became about racial anger and revenge.
Everyone in the white community knew this was an open and shut case. All the evidence in the world pointed to one person and one person only. While the Bblack community knew this wasn't about double murder, this was about decades of injustice. The jury came back after only three hours of deliberations with a “not guilty” verdict. White America was frozen with their mouths agape, while Black America jumped up and down and cried with joy.
I'd like to think that over the past 30 years, this country has made some progress with race relations. What do you think?