The O.J. Simpson Trial Was My Father’s First Memory of America

O.J. Simpson was my family’s introduction to a new country

“Wow, Americans are crazy,” I can picture my dad thinking.

My Chinese family first immigrated to the United States in 1995, and my dad tells me that there was one thing consistently on TV all the time: O.J. Simpson. They didn’t have a TV back then, but they watched the Bronco chase on TV wherever they could, as well as most of the trial.

As to conversations among co-workers presuming whether O.J. was innocent or guilty, my dad told me he tried to stay out of it. First of all, he wasn’t very good at English. To this day, my friends who interacted with my dad ask me behind closed doors, “Ryan, what did your dad just say? I didn’t understand a word he was saying.” His co-workers, to this day, still have trouble understanding him. I can’t imagine how much he struggled through in 1995.

But he saw himself as an immigrant who just got to America and had to stay out of the most divisive issue of his time. As an immigrant, he didn’t feel like he was supposed to have a voice on an issue that divided the country so much. After all, he didn’t want to rock any boats.

I recently talked with someone about O.J. Simpson coming to mind when I was talking…