Posted on 06/09/2014 3:49:04 PM PDT by Altura Ct.
The Simpson murder trial exposed many painful truths. None hit harder than the idea that white and black people often look at the same facts and see different realities.
Today, 20 years after the case captivated and divided the nation, few opinions about the saga have changed. Despite two decades' worth of increasing racial acceptance, the Simpson case still reflects deep-rooted obstacles to a truly united America.
Most people still believe that the black football legend killed his white ex-wife and her friend, polls show. But for many African-Americans, his likely guilt remains overwhelmed by a potent mix: the racism of the lead detective and the history of black mistreatment by the justice system.
For these people, Simpson's acquittal is a powerful rebuke to what they see as America's racial crimes. Others simply see a murderer who played the race card to get away with it. Across the board, emotions remain vivid.
"It was very tense at work," recalls Carlos Carter, who at the time was one of the few black people working in the trust department of a Pittsburgh bank. "The whites felt like OJ was guilty, they were rooting for their team. We thought he was innocent, that he was kind of framed, so we were on the black team."
He adds: "We were consumed with it. Like Sugar Ray Robinson fighting the great white hope. It was like a match. It represented something bigger than the case, the battle between good and evil, the battle between the white man and the black man. It was at that level."
This sentiment, widespread in the black community, was confusing to Shannon Spicker, a white woman who was working her way through college at the time.
"We didn't understand how people could defend him just because he was black"
(Excerpt) Read more at huffingtonpost.com ...
This is what naive whites don't get or want to understand. When push comes to shove...race wins.
Black man says: “The whites felt like OJ was guilty, they were rooting for their team. We thought he was innocent, that he was kind of framed, so we were on the black team.”
White woman says: “We didn’t understand how people could defend him just because he was black”
He IS guilty. He would be just as GUILTY if he were white. Case closed.
Just the facts, ma’am.
You know I think Mark Fuhrman was treated unjustly. The fact that he lied on the stand about saying the N word was not material to the case.
Everybody who worked with the Detective not one came forward and said that he was disrespectful to the black community. On the Contrary.
During the trial I tried to be objective. I think the preliminary hearing was more impactful to me. The Prosecution could have put on the best case including OJ in the act and the jury would have let him walk. I blame this fiasco solely at the fee of Judge Ito.
If I'm reading this correctly, it says "many" black people wanted OJ to get away with brutally murdering a white woman.
Thats a lot of hate.
Blah, blah, blah. He was guilty.
Good post.
Thats a lot of hate.
That needs to hang out there awhile! Let that sink in.
There's no point in reading further when the writer is so obviously oblivious.
When I hear that O.J. has died in prison, hopefully soon, I will be cheering and honking my horn just like the black people did when he was acquitted.
It's what you do, not what you say, that makes you a racist or not.
Exactly!!!!!!
Thanks.
I know the California DOJ and the Federal DOJ investigated Mr. Fuhrman and found nothing. The injustice aside from Ms. Brown and Mr. Goldman was what happened to him.
This was a huge red flag as a warning to me that the government can do anything to me and there would be hardly a peep.
Case and point: George Zimmerman
Amen to that. Or that poor guy who was arrested in the dead of night by the LEO regarding a so called probation violation when we all know it was over that video tape.
And a white man...let’s not forget Ron Goldman.
It sure is. Another thing stuck out at me:
the racism of the lead detective and the history of black mistreatment by the justice system.
He was not racist. But they still accuse Mr. Fuhrman of it.
I don't doubt that black racism got OJ off. But OJ was a very rich dude married to a white woman. I never understood how acquitting OJ Simpson served any sort of justice for ordinary blacks.
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