Some folks are upset that Simpson was so well received last week by people who paid 10 bucks a pop to hear him speak at the Scripture Cathedral Church in Washington, D.C.
They were particularly grieved to hear the man they think got away with killing two people praising God for his good fortune and blaming the media and white law enforcement for his legal problems.
These people feel that O.J., who at least admits he battered his wife, should not be courted by organizations like Black Attorneys for Justice, which sponsored his speech. They feel it is wrong for O.J. to suddenly shoehorn himself into the black civil rights movement. To hear some of his supporters, O.J. is right up there with Martin Luther King.
O.J. is busy reinventing his past. It turns out that he was not living a lifestyle of the rich and famous during those pro football and Hertz commercial years. He claims he was a stalwart member of the black civil rights movement. Never mind that his pulpit was not in an inner-city church as it is now, but the tee-box of exclusive golf courses.
His sincerity to the cause of black oppression and family values cannot be questioned, even though, when finally released from prison, he didn't go to his daughter's birthday or attend a Black Pride rally. He hit the golf links.
As a new martyr, Simpson still has a few bugs to work out in his presentations. Instead of identifying with cultural icons such as Dick Gregory, O.J. peculiarly invokes the name of convicted rapist Mike Tyson. He apparently doesn't realize that Tyson is not a symbol of a black man who was unfairly prosecuted. Tyson is a black man who raped a black woman and served time in the joint.
I disagree with those who want to silence O.J. It's essential to keep him talking. Because, as much as his handlers would like to convince people differently, being found "not guilty" is not the same thing as being innocent.
A jury doesn't determine innocence. It can only find a person "not guilty," meaning, there was not enough evidence to convict.
Simpson's lawyers knew this. That's why they didn't let him open his mouth during the trial. They knew that if they put an unsophisticated, probably guilty, defendant on the stand, he'd jabber away at the prosecutor until he hung himself.
Their plan worked. O.J. kept quiet and the jury found him "not guilty."
A smart man would see this as quite a break, kind of like bluffing with a pair of twos in a poker game. The smart player would never disclose that he had a pair of twos. But a dumb player would jabber about the hand giddily until he disclosed that he actually had stolen the pot.
And that's what O.J. will do eventually. True, he can't be charged with murder again. But he eventually will slip up and say something that will convince everyone that he killed Nicole and Goldman. Then, at least the country won't be broken into two camps: those who insist he was set up and those who think he's a killer. Black Americans do have a lot of legitimate gripes. But O.J.'s treatment by the legal system
isn't one of them.
The trick is to keep him talking. Because even smart guys like F. Lee Bailey get tripped up eventually. And O.J. is no F. Lee. He's a former football jock who is being used by organizations for their own purposes.
He will self destruct. He will eventually expose his hand. And then at least this charade of O.J. Simpson, the poor, abused, unfairly accused civil rights leader, will be over.
So, please, O.J., keep on talkin'.
.
