Quote:
Originally posted by Bad_Rich_Chic
Perhaps an irrelevant aside, I was quite surprised when the verdict came down that this was true. However, the crying white people I knew of (personally - there were probably bunches shown on the evening news, but I sort of ignored the whole thing while it was happening) was a friend and her co-workers in Canada. (OK, in fairness I don't know how many of them were white or not, but my friend was, anyway.) She called me a couple days after to ask what we thought about it down here, and I basically said "if he couldn't afford bigshot lawyers to manipulate the courtroom, he'd be screwed, but he walked and people with much crapier cases against them fry because money talks, and yeah that sucks."
Anyhow, my Kanuk friend launched into along speech about how we Americans just didn't understand how our justice system was viewed in the rest of the world, as a great forum for ensuring fairness etc., and the manipulation of evidence & jurors racial sentiment was just a crushing blow to people who admired the model of free government the US represented, and they were crushed, just crushed at this failure, and it seemed to the rest of the world that the whole US legal system was entirely corrupted by money and race. And she and her whole office broke down in tears and wept when the verdict came down because it was such a failure that the court system couldn't withstand money and racial hatred.
I have to tell you, this whole thing really sort of freaked me out. First, she was Canadian, so why did she care anyway? Second, she was never a particularly pro-Yank Canadian, either, so why was she so surprised? Third, who out there really think money doesn't affect that stuff here? I mean, really? Fourth, who cries about something like that? And her whole office? I gotta say, I really thought that someone just obviously slippled LSD into the water cooler up there that day, 'cause nothing else could explain it.
But, anyhow, the "point" of this digression was yes, it is absolutely true that white people sobbed when the verdict came down.
|
Yeah, I was referring to (the stuff you ignored at the time, like) when they showed split screens of people on the streets and in offices and Times Square or wherever where there would be groups of whites and groups of blacks. When the verdict came down, they showed the whites crying and hysterical and they showed the blacks cheering and jubilant. It was like there were no sane people with a reaction to the verdict.
On a personal level, I was surprised at how shocked and pissed off white people were that he got away with it (because he was rich, famous, an athlete, black, whatever). Shit like this has been happening since day 1. What's the big shock?
But, I agree with your surprise about others' reaction to our judicial system. It seems pretty clear that money buys you freedom and OJ bought his.
TM
Threaded Mode