Black History Month: OJ Simpson – A Profile

To celebrate today, our second day of Black History Month, we will take a quick look at one of our former heros, OJ Simpson.

Wikipedia states:   “Orenthal James “O. J.” Simpson (born July 9, 1947), nicknamed “The Juice”, is a retired American collegiate and professional football player, football broadcaster, actor, and a currently incarcerated convicted criminal.”

Most people remember OJ from his trial, especially those in the under-thirty crowd, but some of us also remember him as an awe-inspiring football hero in “the day”.

Wikipedia references this past with this:

“Simpson was the American Football League‘s Buffalo Bills‘ first overall pick in the 1969 Common Draft and the first pro football player to rush more than 2,000 yards in a season (1973) . . . . He also holds the record for the single season yards-per-game average which stands at 143.1 ypg. Simpson was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985.”

And he was also a decent actor.  I loved watching his SNL skit.  He seemed like a genuinely likable man, though a bit stuffed with himself there towards the end.  I think he let his sense of fame and self-importance take over his good sense.

And the truth is: who killed Nicole Brown?  No other murderer has been found; no other suspects offered.  I think they let this black man run free both because of his position and the potential repercussions had the jury found this man guilty.  Everyone was predicting violent riots if that happened – and then how many would die?  Best let this one walk . . . spare a bunch of others, not to mention a lot of property damage.  We all know how these L.A. race riots go . . .

Well, we can’t say OJ killed Nicole – that would be just wrong.  After all: the jury found him innocent; therefore, he is innocent.  No matter what the general public says or thinks.  The matter is over and done with.  The end . . .

Well, not quite the end.  This influential African-American who went on to inspire hundreds of thousands of ghetto youths to concentrate on football more than their education – much like basketball now – that or rapping – not knowing their chances are less than one in ten thousand of ‘making the team’ or having a successful band . . .

O.J.’s in jail again.  This time for something else he’d done.  And I just don’t get this man.

He goes to Florida and breaks law after law – then off to Vegas to break some more.  I wonder if having gotten away with murder he decided he could get away with anything (and everything) else.

As with anyone, he let his power and fame go to his head.  He thought he could get away with murder – and (in my opinion) – he did, though I must admit that the evidence was shaky.  However, there just wasn’t the motivation by anyone else; nor the timing, nor a whole bunch of things . . .

Sometimes if you beat around the bush long enough, you’ve defined it.  And I think that’s what O.J. and his lawyers did.  For all of America.  Just nobody ‘bought’ it . . . not really . . . and considering what he did, our good ol’ dear friend Wikipedia has this to say:

“On December 5, 2008, Simpson was sentenced to a total of 33 years in prisonwith the possibility of parole in about 9 years in 2017.  On September 4, 2009, the Nevada Supreme Court denied a request for bail during Simpson’s appeal. In October 2010, the Nevada Supreme Court affirmed his convictions.  He is now serving his sentence at the Lovelock Correctional Center.^“

It’s about time.