When I first saw the previews for this 10-episode series, I was intrigued by the highlights and truly ignorant of what actually happened in this case. So, I turned to family members to gain insight on their thoughts during the trial. There’s always three sides to a story, but they actually only gave me two to side with. Race or redemption?
The first theory is one commonly known as “trying to keep another black brother down.” O.J Simpson was just a black athlete being framed for killing two white people. Oh…and, of course, the gloves didn’t fit. The second theory being, he might have done it or was somehow involved, but was acquitted of charges as a redemption to all of the targeted blacks of the past. Especially because this trial occurred just years after the Rodney King case. I took both theories into consideration while watching the entire series, so as I reached the end, I could formulate my own side of what happened.
To be politically correct, O.J Simpson was a narcissistic black athlete, who refused to identify with anything other than that.
The overwhelming conflict of evidence lost some of its credibility as questions of the LAPD mishandling the evidence came to light by the second half of the series. And if he were in fact framed, why was there no further pursuit of the alleged person who committed these brutal killings? Race played a major role in the presentation of testimonies and incriminating evidence. Take The Fuhrman Tapes and his testimony for example. Need I say more? The prosecution didn’t want to distract the jury from the evidence, but it was almost impossible.
Because I’m a late ’80s baby and I couldn’t relate with the generation on how they felt during that time, I had to consider if this case was present now how I would feel. Would I, too, be drawn away from the evidence and more to the sensitivities of racial injustice? And the answer is yes. To me, even if this egotistical black man committed these crimes, bringing light to the current state of blacks being targeted does hold more weight. For me as a black woman in the midst of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. And if defending his case to prove his innocence just to prove a point was an option, I think it would be highly considered. The part that makes it difficult is that you feel wrong for dismissing the thought of mourning families, but even more baffled to ignore the black families that have been mourning, mistreated, underrepresented and targeted for decades. And probably many more to come. My blood boils that the same conversation Johnnie Cochran presents to the court back then about racial injustice still stands today.
Before this show, I was a naive individual believing it was all about right or wrong.
To be politically correct, history continues to repeat itself and the O.J Simpson case was yet another platform to allow black voices to be heard. It was, in fact, bigger than OJ.
