It’s Still The People vs OJ
Yesterday, on Thursday July 20th 2017, Orenthal James ‘O.J.’ Simpson was granted parole by a Nevada Parole Board for his role in the 2008 armed robbery of sports memorabilia at the Las Vegas Palace Station Hotel. After spending nine years at the Lovelock Correctional Center, he will be a free man on the 1st of October.
But he shouldn’t be. And worse, it shouldn’t have been yet another media spectacle.

(Helpful refreshers: the 5-part ESPN documentary mini-series OJ: Made in America (2016), the FX mini-series American Crime Story: The People v O.J. Simpson (2016), the Jeffrey Toobin book The Run of His Life: The People v O.J. Simpson (1997). The ESPN film actually won the 2017 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.)
For the generation that grew up without the phenomenon of ‘The Juice’ (myself included), he’s about as big as Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is now. A sports star-cum-celebrity, O.J. Simpson was larger than life. Affable, friendly and likable, he made a distinctive mark on USC Football, the National Football League and Hollywood as the first black athlete to cross over as a mega media personality. But everything changed when his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman were found murdered at her Brentwood, California home on July 12th 1994, and O.J. naturally became the prime suspect.
But the trial was a farce. Judge Lance Ito was unable to regulate court proceedings and it devolved into a media circus. Jurors dropped like flies over the course of the marathon 11-month court case, with only 4 of the original 24 selections remaining by the time of the verdict. Several people on both sides appeared to commit perjury on the witness stand. Prosecutorial arguments repeatedly fell apart under media scrutiny, sustained race-baiting and reasonable doubt, and were ultimately overmatched by the “Dream Team” defense. This team of attorneys was a well-compensated mass of huge egos that often clashed but ultimately were some of the most brilliant legal minds in the country. With an estimated 100 million people nationwide tuning in, the jury rendered a verdict of ‘not guilty’ for Simpson’s alleged double homicide.
The reaction to Simpson’s acquittal was infamously divided along racial lines. The black community largely stood behind him, while whites (and Latinos) shunned him as a man who had gotten away with murder. And once again, yesterday, after Simpson was granted parole in his only criminal conviction as an adult, the reaction was similarly split down the middle.
Given the context of the 1991 Rodney King beatings and the undeniable issue of systemic racism in the Los Angeles Police Department (a problem that certainly remains to this day nationwide), it is no real surprise that Johnnie Cochran and the ‘Dream Team’ were able to construct a case against LAPD Detective Mark Fuhrman as a racist who may have framed the most successful black man in 90s America. The tapes of Fuhrman’s interviews with writer Laura Hart McKinny, revealing his highly troubling views on the African American community, women and police brutality, essentially turned the case on its head with their shocking content. It united the black community in a misguided desire for justice.
I say misguided, because a step back to look at the kind of man O.J. Simpson was reveals who he truly is. For one, O.J. was only black in skin color. He had no close allegiances to the black community and its people, and had moved to a white neighborhood where most of his friends and close associates were white. To suffer none of the injustices of your people and yet claim it when convenient to your cause is to wade through a river of tears simply to get to the other side. Moreover, he had a clear history of domestic abuse, with his ex Nicole reportedly calling 911, fearful for her life, nine times in the past prior to her eventual murder. With his irrepressible charisma and magnetic presence, O.J. had always managed to get away with his past infractions. But, in 1995, he pulled the charm offensive and the race bait to win his ‘get out of jail free’ card.
All of these issues came to bear once again yesterday, when commentators and pundits evaluated his parole hearing. The media frenzy was still there and the racial divide was still there. Many (mostly white) people were appalled that he cracked jokes and claimed to have been a “conflict-free” “straight shooter” his whole life. Yet, others (mostly black) pointed out how he had served nine years as a model prisoner and deserved to be paroled. Never mind that he had a history of domestic abuse. Never mind that he reneged on his promise to attend AA. Never mind that he frequently displays all the telltale signs of a sociopath.
Get this: black lives 100% matter. But this should not be a landmark case of a black life that matters, when a rich sportsman who has clearly gotten a pass from the law also happens to be black. After all, he himself was famously reported as saying: “I’m not black. I’m O.J.”
The moment has likely passed to bring O.J. Simpson to justice, but it is not too late for America to look inwards. In the hyper-conglomerated corporate media jungle, spectacle has come to outlast substance in this great country. A former reality TV star occupies the Oval Office. A scuffle between Kim Kardashian and her sisters can get as much attention, if not more, than the struggle for healthcare. We bounce from one ratings spike to the next, grabbing the popcorn and never actually addressing problems. Just take, for instance, how the only thing that could bump wall-to-wall coverage of the Trump administration off the news was wall-to-wall coverage of O.J.’s parole hearing.
The United States has 5% of the world population but 25% of its inmates. African Americans are brutalized, shot and killed almost daily by the police. Maybe it’s time for political candidates with genuine criminal justice reforms in mind. Maybe the black community should focus on genuinely wronged individuals. And maybe the media should stop sensationalizing and start reporting.
So how about it — enough with the O.J stuff already?