OBITUARY: O.J. Simpson (1947–2024)

When I think back to my high school days, I think of so many things — the day I met Ursa (one of the coolest girls I ever met), hearing A Tribe Called Quest’s album “Beats Rhymes & Life”, watching Hercules the Legendary Journeys, my shitty prom date, and hearing my dad complain about me not having a job while still in high school — because HE had one. Most notable was sitting in high school math class one day and the faculty pumping the verdict to the O.J. Simpson trial over the PA system. “Not guilty”, it said, and the sound in the background was one of…disappointment. When we got out of math class, a fellow classmate proclaimed that it was not a fair trial, then she elbowed me and asked for confirmation of her mindset.
After years of verbal and social bullying at that point, my limited life experience taught me that my survival and comfort meant I needed to “go along to get along”, as it is commonly said. I just nodded and walked on, not sure of what happened: the guy from the Naked Gun series and the Roots miniseries supposedly killed his wife, went to trial, and the country was so divided on what to do with the accused a riot was imminent if he did not go free. Now that he’s free, I was standing next to someone who wanted him to go to jail and suffer in that environment anyway, despite so many clear doubts provided via police misconduct being partially countered by O.J.’s strange behavior AND the threat…