The Juice This Time
There are probably a thousand snarky remarks to be made about OJ Simpson's civilian "sting" operation that went south over in Vegas. Clearly instead of engaging in memorabilia retrieval he should have stuck with his post-acquittal vow of finding his wife's "real killers." Apparently a hot lead at the Playboy Club is what took Simpson to Vegas this time. Or, maybe his jaunt to the Palms was just a cover for his sting operation. Who knows how clandestine minds work.
Simpson's latest legal troubles of course got me thinking about the trial, which here in LA has yet to be supplanted as "The Trial," despite the best efforts of Robert Blake and Phil Spector.
The thing I recall most about Simpson's acquittal -- most besides the forewoman mangling his name (c'mon, your one moment in the sun and you blow your lines!) -- were those shots of the Howard University law students going nuts over the verdict. Screaming. Cheering.
What I always appreciated about the whole OJ affair is that it proved to all doubters that, yeah, the American legal system is screwed top to bottom. But I never understood cheering for OJ. Two people were dead and a guy who was guilty got a walk.
In 2005, on the tenth anniversary of the Simpson trial, PBS's Frontline aired a doc about the verdict. They interviewed a couple of OJ apologists who handed out some twisted Blackology about the "delicious irony of the victory," and how the Simpson case became "the carrier of our dreams."
If you subscribe to that theory, this then is the obelisk that marks the beginning of the post-civil rights era: OJ -- "I got it over on the system" -- Simpson. I'm sorry, but what's so ironic about the rich and famous catching a break? How did the fact that OJ's wealth and fame helped buy a Get Out of Jail Free card carry the dreams of the rest of the race? OJ getting over didn't do a thing for the indigent vics of hurricane Katrina.
OJ Simpson never was the "carrier of our dreams." Not mine. What he is, is nothing more than an arrogant wife beater who graduated to murder before devolving into a petty crook. And anyone who tries to find more meaning in him isn't uplifting the race, just debasing it.
Does anyone now care to cheer for that?
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On a D.C. radio station this morning, one of the personalities said, " I met OJ once and he's literally got the biggest head I've ever seen, too bad there's nothing in it."
About sums it up.
Mr. Ridley, why are you no longer on the "Morning Joe" show on MSNBC? Your insightful comments in this article illustrate your potential as a voice for sanity which I believe that show (as well as television in general) sorely needs!
I don't think the blacks who responded to OJ by cheering cared one bit about OJ, I think they just wanted revenge.It is sad but true. I heard Bill Maher talk about this and I think he is kinda right. I think alot of people thought white america finally can see how racism stings and hurts , even when it is not someone you personally know. I think Rodney King, Sean Bell, and Duke U, OJ are examples of how tribal we all(BLACKS&WHITES) become.
Al Sharpton gets upset about Sean Bell but not about Duke U and Rush Limbaugh ( white america's al sharpton) gets upset about Duke but not Sean Bell. These two men don't represent all of black and white america but they represent a lot of people's views.
Regarding the alleged murder case, the verdict was "not guilty." There are valid reasons for this verdict.
If you cut someone's head off a great deal of blood would be all over you. If you fight a young man like Ron Goldman you would bear some defensive wounds. The "time line" was not helpful to the prosecution, either. The ski mask belonged to one of the children. The conduct of the LAPD in terms of the chain of custody of the evidence, particularly the blood, was not helpful either.
Granted, a civil jury later found that O.J. "did it." It still doesn't make it so. It was more likely than not. In fact there was clear and convincing evidence, though a reasonable doubt remained.
This time around, O.J. was apparently "set up." The guy with the tape recorder said on Larry King Live that he had spent three hours talking to the police before the incident about the legality of using self-help to recover the property that was stolen. He had also contacted the FBI. I am not sure that the taping was legal but a deal was made for immunity. Someone pulled a gun and O.J. seemed to capitalize on that fact.
I'll bet that he will be found guilty this time but let's not convict anyone without a trial. Even a confessed wife-beater deserves due process. It was a misdemeanor conviction, I believe, although the photos were really bad.
Mr. Ridley,
I'd care to cheer for the bold truth told - and the honest opinion expressed - in this article.
BRAVO!
PA Firefighter
"Cogito, ergo Liberal!"
The people who will never, ever believe that OJ is guilty no matter what evidence you present to them are the same type of people that think Sadaam Hussein perpetrated 9-11, or that we actually found WMDs in Iraq.
One of the side-effects of Democracy is that it gives imbeciles like these equal voting power to those who actually take the time to figure shit out in a logical and intellectually honest way.
It's not even debatable OJ killed those two people.
Remeber "I won't stop looking until I find the real killers"? Well I guess they're not hiding in any golf courses in South Florida. He seems to have checked those out rather thoroughly.
OJ apologists are the village idiots.
You clearly don't understand how our criminal justice system works. It doesn't matter whether he was guilty or not. If the cops tampered with the evidence, the jurors had no choice but to acquit.
BTW, knowledge of the norms and ethical standards that govern our criminal justice system does not make someone an OJ apologist.
You've posted about 20 times on this subject. Is it really that personal for you? Does the OJ case offend your sense of entitlement that much?
Yeah John, The Howard University thing was just the worst. You'd think they got the last spot in March Madness by the way they were acting. They knew cameras were there and still... madness. It was such a low moment.
O.J Simpson did not kill his ex wife and Ron Goldman. He was not involved in it in any way. He knew nothing about it.
If you all would stop blabbing so much, move away from your televisions and READ , you will see who did it, and it was not O.J. Simpson.
What sort of person is that revels in the plight of others? So Mr. Simpson has a series of charges laid against him by an overzealous prosecutor in Las Vegas, and the masses jump for joy. Typical barbaric acts of a barbaric People. Small wonder that the World looks at you laughingly each time you assert your Freedoms, Riches, Bestness and the like.
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Pick the beam out of your eye....
It is amazing to hear people relive what happened with Simpson and a trail that he was aquitted on twelve or thirteen years ago.
There are far more important thing you should be discussing. Like things that are happening everyday that affect our daily lives that are far more important than Simpson.
Hey Riddley,
As you know, Whites in our society are VERY selective in what they remember and what they CHOOSE to forget. For instance, most whites choose to forget that for the overwhelming majority of our nation's history, and still today, African Americans have experienced systematic abuse at the hands of the criminal justice system. Hell, we even had a SUPREME COURT ruling that proclaimed that African Americans didn't have rights that Whites were bound to respect.
Whites like to pretend that racism is a thing of the past. They specialize in trying to disassociate current racially based incidents from America’s propensity for racial abuse against African Americans. Whenever Whites tell you, “It’s not about race” that means
“ It is all about race” They accuse African Americans of “playing the race card” Who the hell put the race card in the damn deck? The white majority loved the race card when they perceived that it benefited them. Now that African Americans have decided to FIGHT BACK, Whites are complaining that African Americans are victimizing them. What a JOKE!
One guiding principle that has served me well as an African American male:
Don't give too much weight to what the vast majority of Whites think about race because as a whole they don't have the CAPACITY to be honest about racism in this nation. Think about it... If African Americans had listened to the white majority during the Civil Rights movement where would they be today?
One word of advice to the Arab world in particular and the Islamic world in general. If you want to know what White Americans think of you then you need to examine its treatment of Blacks and Native American in this nation. Then and only then decide what your relationship should be to the US. One hint: If the US was fighting this “War on Terror’ against Europeans there wouldn’t be Abu Garib and Guantanamo scandals.
Ask 'em to define the "race card". They never can.
Thanks for the insightful article (as usual, Mr. Ridley
Although in my heart I believe OJ was undoubtedly guilty of murdering his wife and her friend, I also believe his case was proof that the system works. (At least for those who can afford top lawyers.) The standard of our justice system is that the prosecution prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Because of their own ineptitude coupled with LAPD's several major blunders, I have always been convinced they failed to do so.
Thanks for the great blog. As a Canadian, observing the media circus around OJ in Vegas, I am baffled that there are still people out there (black and white) that believe that he is innocent. How much more information do you need on this guy??
Ridley's comment is overly simplistic, shallow. I doubt that black people cheering were cheering for OJ; they were cheering for a victory over racism in the media and the LAPD. Whatever happened in that Las Vegas hotel room, it is plainly obvious that the prosecutor is over-charging, and the snickering white media and its so-called expert pundits are promoting OJ's guilt before trial (again) as a stand-in vendetta to settle the score about the LA verdict. In spite of OJ, we should be promoting the principle of fair trial, innocent until proven guilty, and a prosecution that pursues justice based on the rule of law, not the rule of vendetta or (white) mob justice. The rules of the justice system were designed to protect the rights of the worse, not just the pristine and up-right. Consistent application of fairness and the rule of law protects all of us, including those who are unpopular or social pariahs.
I was saddened by the verdict and for the families of the deceased but internally I was cheering for no other reason than "whitey" finally got to feel what it was like to be on the receiving end of a rigged jury. Unfortunately we haven't gotten any better with our race relations (Jena) and until we address the fact that racism is embedded in our nation's history, and, dare I say built by it, we will always have it.
What rigged jury? I didn't see a freaking thing about the jury being rigged. What are you talking about.
The cheering was not because "whitey" as you put it, "finally got to feel what it was like". I haven't heard anything like that.
You don't need to "hear" anything. Just believe your own eyes. The scores of African-Americans weren't rejoicing at the verdict because they loved The Naked Gun. It was a black-white thing, only this time in reverse.
Blacks justified their behavior by saying it was payback for past injustices. The only problem with that argument is that past injustices are just that, in the past.
Acquitting a black man with the rationale of "whites did it so we can too" is moronic and not morally justifiable.
Furthermore, using that reasoning as the foundation of your argument only exposes you as someone who pays lip-service to racial harmony and equality, but is really only interested in tit-for-tat paybacks and score settling.
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