How O.J. Simpson Divided Our Nation

Readers I suggest strongly that if you’re going to read the following article, you suspend your emotions, you open your minds, and you open your hearts. If you can’t do that then hop off my blog cause you’re just going to get yourself all riled up for no reason.

First off, let’s get one thing straight. O.J. Simpson is a RESPONSIBLE party in the deaths of Nicole Brown-Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman. In 1994 our nation was divided by race lines when O.J. Simpson was charged and arrested for the grisly murders of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend, Ronald Goldman. Though O.J. received a not-guilty verdict in criminal court, he was found liable for the deaths of Nicole and Ron and subsequently ordered to pay over $3 million in damages.

Twenty-five years ago OJ was a young African-American man enjoying success and celebrity during a period when the nation was grappling with hotbeds of racial turmoil throughout the country. In 1972 O.J. became the first running back to rush for 2,003 yards, becoming the first player to ever pass the 2000 yard mark. He was named NFL player of the year in 1972 and 1973 and would eventually be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985.

Nicole was an admittedly shy and insecure person. She was also young, blonde and beautiful, these traits typically present in a trophy-wife. The two met in 1977 at a Beverly Hills night club when Nicole was 18 and OJ was 30. They were eventually married in February 1985. The honeymoon period in their marriage elapsed quickly and after seven years riddled with domestic violence, the two separated.

According to the Brown family, during their stormy marriage police were called by neighbors to their home on a few occasions, yet despite the bruises on Nicole’s face, O.J. was never arrested and reports were not filed. Finally on January 1, 1989, Nicole suffered a beating by O.J. that was so bad, pictures were taken of her face and body and medical reports were recorded citing O.J. as the source of her bruises. These reports and pictures would be on display during her eventual murder trial.

Nicole divorced O.J. in 1992, the same year that Los Angeles erupted into what would become known as the Rodney King Riots or more famously, the L.A. Riots. I will explain later how the riots largely impacted the murder trial outcome and the views of everyone involved, including the courtroom spectators and television viewers.

Plain and simple O.J. was a bully of the worst kind: he was a bully with privilege and influence because of his celebrity status. Unfortunately for the Brown and Goldman families, at the time of Nicole and Ron’s deaths this country was in the throes of racially charged unrest and their loved ones would become collateral damage for that period.

On June 12, 1994 the bodies of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were found just hours after they’d been brutally murdered. Nicole’s throat was cut, her head nearly severed from her body. In the courtyard of her condo, both Nicole and Ron were stabbed multiple times while her children slept in the bedrooms above.

Five days after the murders police found a “suicide note” from O.J. in which he professed his innocence and said his goodbyes to friends. In pure circus-dramatic form, the note was read on television by one of his lawyers as television cameras filmed him leading the police on a slow-speed car chase. Supposedly O.J. was holding a gun to his head as he sat in the back of the white Ford Bronco famously driven by one of his cronies.

Following this hours-long pursuit, O.J. eventually turned himself in. The trial of the century ensued and we all know how the story ends. In 1995 O.J. got away with the murders because in 1994 Los Angeles was a racially charged mess!

The murder trial came on the heels of the acquittal of three police officers in 1992, who were caught on film, beating an unarmed and defenseless Rodney King, who moments before had led them in a high speed pursuit. The acquittals lead to the L.A. riots which lasted four days, resulting in millions of dollars in property damages and the loss of 53 lives.

The Los Angeles police department had a well-deserved reputation for racial profiling and biased treatment against blacks during that period. Adding to the racially charged environment, just a few months before the riots, 15 year old Latasha Harlins, an African-American, was shot and killed by a Korean store owner in L.A. who suspected her of shoplifting.

During the O.J. Simpson murder trial one of the key witnesses for the prosecution, L.A.P.D Detective Mark Furhman, perjured himself. He denied that he’d ever used the word “nigger” during his career, but an audio tape played by the defense proved he’d used it repeatedly. This had a huge negative impact on the prosecution’s case.

Now I’m not saying everyone across the country was hoping for a particular verdict because of the SKIN COLORS of the lead characters in this tragic story. BUT the TRUTH is MOST of us were and justifiably so. In 1994 white people were HORRIFIED that a murderer who happened also to be black would not pay the price for taking the lives of two of their own. In that same year black people were justifiably angry and outraged with their treatment by police.

Black people didn’t care whether O.J. did it or not, it was time for the tables to turn. In previous years countless black lives were taken at the whim of racist white men without any consequences. So why shouldn’t O.J. get away with these murders?

Well here we are, it’s now 2007. O.J. is in the press again, facing a pending burglary trial, because as luck would have it, he is just as stupid as he is arrogant. Hopefully by now we’ve all pulled back from the trees and we’re looking at the forest. Hopefully we’ve pulled closer to each other with more understanding and an appreciation for our respective, previous biases. Hopefully we can now agree with shared understanding that one way or another O.J. should be sent to jail.

"Let's say I committed this crime .... even if I did do this, it would have been because I loved her very much, right?"

-- O.J. Simpson

1998 Interview

Esquire Magazine

Eyes wide open, icanseeclearynow