Class, Race and Patriarchy: Lessons from The People vs. OJ Simpson by Lawrence Ware

Class, Race and Patriarchy: Lessons from The People vs. OJ Simpsonby Lawrence Ware | @Law_Ware | NewBlackMan (in Exile)
The People vs. OJ Simpson is a peculiar, brilliant series. It is an amazing examination of race, class, and gender set against the backdrop of social unrest and journalistic sensationalism. The writing is sublime and the acting exquisite. (If Courtney B. Vance is not given all the awards possible for his performance, there will be marching in the streets.) Yet, culturally, this is the show we need for three reasons.
We’ve been here before.
The People vs. OJ Simpson forces America to come to terms with the fact that the grievances expressed by those in the Movement for Black Lives are not new. The merciless beating of Rodney King is shown at the beginning of the series to frame all that comes thereafter, and the deep mistrust many in the black community have toward America’s criminal justice system colors every frame and scene. This mistrust set the stage for black Americans to root for a man that had all but abandoned them.
OJ Simpson was not deeply involved in the black community. He was not in the vanguard of movements for black social uplift. He became a symbol of the plight of black men and women struggling against forces of marginalization—and Johnnie Cochran understood what Simpson represented. When Cochran defended OJ, many of us felt that Cochran was defending us. Many of us wanted, just once, for a black man to be found innocent…even if he did the crime.
C.R.E.A.M.
I hope it is not a spoiler to say that OJ Simpson was found not guilty of the crimes for which he stood accused. I also hope it is not a spoiler to say that he would probably have been found guilty if it were not for his talented and well paid legal team. This series shows us that the financial standing of a defendant is almost as important, and in many ways more important, than said person’s guilt or innocence. The People vs. OJ Simpson is clear about the role money plays in the quality of a defense. If OJ were less wealthy and famous, I have no doubt he would have plead guilty and entered into an agreement with the district attorney’s office. Race, in this case, mattered, but socioeconomic status mattered more.
The pitfalls of blind racial allegiance
When the verdict was read, we saw footage of many black and brown people cheering in the streets while white folks reacted with disgust. A person approached the camera shouting, “Justice was served!” As a kid in middle school, I cheered. I high fived my friends; I felt confident that justice had, indeed, been served. However, here’s the thing: it hadn’t.
There was convincing evidence, both forensic and circumstantial, that OJ had committed the crimes. However, that evidence did not matter to many of us that lived through that moment in time. We were blinded by what OJ represented. We projected unto him our anger and frustration with an unjust and corrupt criminal justice system. We clothed him in our dreams of black validation in the face of white supremacy. We saw in him a chance to right centuries of wrongs—and because many of us either knew he was guilty and did not care or was blinded by racial allegiance, we celebrated when a guilty man went free. We were wrong. I was wrong.
We have no moral grounds to decry injustice in America while celebrating a miscarriage of justice for racial reasons. When we do that, we only empower forces that marginalize us. It is a temporary victory that brings more harm than good. Especially when we consider the clear misogyny displayed by Simpson and how many of us looked past the domestic violence to support a man who had clearly abused his wife. The critique of patriarchy lurking in the background of the series made the celebratory behavior displayed when he was declared not guilty all the more distasteful.
It has been a surreal experiencing watching a show that does not find its tension in hiding from viewers the twists and turns of the plot, but, rather, by unveiling the complexities of a flawed system peopled by imperfect human beings. OJ Simpson got away with murder, but this time, I was not guilty of looking past the misdeeds of a guilty man.
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Lawrence Ware is an Oklahoma State University Division of Institutional Diversity Fellow. He teaches in OSU’s philosophy department and is the Diversity Coordinator for its Ethics Center. An advisor to Democratic Left and contributing editor at RS: The Religious Left, he has also been a commentator on race and politics for the Huffington Post Live, NPR’s Talk of the Nation, and PRI’s Flashpoint. He is an ordained minister in the Progressive Baptist Convention. Find him on Twitter @law_ware.