10th Anniversary of the OJ Trial

[Aristotle]

I read this article on, of all places, ESPN.com. I found it interesting.

O.J., 10 Years Later

Thoughts?

[Gilgamar]

I remember hearing the verdict and realizing that all it takes is one moron to get away with murder.

Whether he did it or not. That's what I remembered. Oh, and the glove. The glove that didn't fit was hilarious.

[Reisel]

I guess I just hit that range of the ages of people who only remember bits and pieces. What I remember is the Bronco chase. Like the article mentioned, it was surreal. I was in Michigan visiting family for the summer. I can't remember what we were doing, but suddenly my aunt and step-uncle called us all into the living room to show what was going on.

We sat and watched for a while before growing a bit bored (me, my sister, and my cousin) and went back to play. Every now and then we'd go ask them, "Have they caught him yet?" They called us back in when they found out he was driving to his house. I suppose it could have been gruesome if he'd shot himself in the car, but we watched him get apprehended.

I don't know how much time overall we spent watching it, but it felt like an hour. Or two. I was only 12 at the time. I only knew sketchy details about the murder at first, and I remember the case going on, and SNL making fun of Marcia Clark, but I never actually watched the trial. My opinion was, he's guilty, but a lot of that at the time was based on the opinions of those around me. Looking back on it, on all the evidence, I still believe he was guilty.

I am glad he was found guilty in the civil trial. It doesn't make it okay that he's not in jail, but at least it's SOME kind of retribution to the families. Not what they fully deserve, but it's something.

[Talsek]

The O.J. trial taught us one thing, we are still a racially divided nation.

This is one of the things I remember most about the trial. I was in school at the time, and most of the black kids I knew banded together and would watch the news as a unit. They didn't seem to care at all whether O.J. was a murderer or not, they just wanted to see the black guy walk. It was the strongest 'racial divide' among my peers that I'd ever seen.

[Yatar]

Originally posted by Talsek
This is one of the things I remember most about the trial. I was in school at the time, and most of the black kids I knew banded together and would watch the news as a unit. They didn't seem to care at all whether O.J. was a murderer or not, they just wanted to see the black guy walk. It was the strongest 'racial divide' among my peers that I'd ever seen.

My experience was similar. I was in a high school classroom when I saw the verdict, and the class erupted in cheers (school had a black majority). That day there were more fights then we'd ever had before, too.

I think OJ did it, but I do think the juries made the right decision in both the criminal and civil trials, based on the presented evidence. What's unfortunate is that such a high-profile case became so tainted by racism. When as a nation we're always working to heal problems between races, something like that happening doesn't exactly help.