FEATURE
in themselves. The
media frenzied, super-
hyped, televised trial sensationalized
arguments from OJ’s legal ‘dream team’
that he was framed and the controversy
around his being able to capitalise on
his fame and finances.It also brought
to the fore the very real issues of
police misconduct and systemic racial
disparities that were evident in the
case and in society that many ordinary
Americans could only too well relate to.
It became a racially charged case that
captured the attention of American
society and split open a divide.
Combined with, what New Yorker writer
Jeffrey Toobin describes as, almost all
of the other topics that obsess America
without fail: sexual relationships,
sports, violence and a criminal mystery
witnessed only by a dog, paved the way
for the reality TV, celebrity-obsessed
culture we know today.Is the Kardashian
link an eerie coincidence?
The timing of the trial, at a time when
relations between police and African
Americans in LA where strained, threw
OJ into becoming
a symbol for their struggle.It became
a case of black versus white, innocent
vs. guilty. The very real murder trial and
tragic lack of justice for two innocent
victims became a surreal soap opera
drama, both inside and outside the
courtroom.
We know how the ‘TV show’ ended.
OJ was acquitted, with much of
black America seeing it as cause for
celebration, a glimmer of
hope. Whether it was meant
to or not, the OJ trial and its impact
afterwards, became a measuring stick
for race relations.
OJ was outcast from his home in a
white suburban neighbourhood that
had been so colour blind (and blinded
by his iconic status). Now all they
could see was blood and he faced
onslaught from an unusual coalition
that included racists, white woman
dominated feminists and anti-domestic
violence groups that felt he needed to
be punished. He faced a strange mix of
racism and anger over, what was felt to
be, a miscarriage of justice.
In later years, OJ fell into an excessive
lifestyle in Florida that included
appearances in seemingly ironic music
videos and reality hidden camera TV
shows, a sad shadow of his former self.
He hit a low point in 2007, when he was
found not to have paid the civil jury
judgement that found him liable for the
deaths of Brown Simpson and Goldman.
In a separate event, he was arrested for
storming into a Las Vegas hotel room,
armed, in order to reclaim memorabilia
that Simpson claimed belonged to him.
He went to trial and was sentenced to 33
years in December 2008 (for that crime
deservedly? Or late karma for something
else?). This again brings up the issues of
what he was acquitted of before, race,
systemic misconduct and injustice.
OJ’s is a story rooted in deep seated
societal issues, one that on the surface
seemed to be about something else
entirely.For a while he was able to
transcend race and marry a white woman
but there was a limit. When the outcome
of that relationship met a brutal end,
ugly racism and the scars of injustice
also reared their heads on both sides
and even he, with his status and money,
could only buy his way out so much.
So much was put on him and his life
because he reflected the fears and
obsessions of the American psyche.
The racism, violence and injustice that
has been ignored despite successes
of the civil rights movement and the
pedestal the rich, powerful and famous
are put on. They were part of his story
and the impact of his story on society.
Unfortunately, certain issues though
important, perhaps blinded society and
the justice system from what should
have been done: justice for two innocent
people murdered.
OJ and his story reflect, bizarrely,
his own persona and perhaps his
obsessions, but also say something
about the psyche of American society
and its own obsessions.It captured
society’s imagination because it was a
story America was so proud to claim as
its own and didn’t want to see fail.They
didn’t want to see OJ’s downfall because
that meant society had failedtoo.OJ is
an American tragedy.
Reshma Madhi
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