"An arrogant wife beater who graduated to murder before devolving into a petty crook"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

John Ridley

The Juice This Time

Posted September 18, 2007 | 02:13 PM (EST)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-ridley/the-juice-this-time_b_64879.html



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?