OJ Simpson: The Trial That Broke America

I guess everyone remembers where they were when the OJ verdict was announced. I was working in a call center. Worst job EVER. That day, I was working in what we called “The Queue Master” position. That meant I had a separate monitor that told me how many people were on the phone, how many calls we had waiting, who was on “not available,” etc. Basically, all the stats. I was hoping to take lunch at 1PM Eastern to watch the verdict announcement, but at about 10 til, the phones went NUTS! We had like 500 calls in the queue. I was ringing my bell for “all hands on deck.” The president of the company came over and stood behind me to monitor the situation. Then, after about 5 minutes – it went quiet. We went from 500 calls holding, to 100, to 50, to 10, to ZERO. The only time the queue ever hit zero was like at 3AM. Then we had 10 operators waiting to take calls. Then 50. Then 100. I thought the president was going to have a stroke because he was literally watching his floor bleed money in real time. I decided that since things had quieted down, I was going to lunch.

A bunch of my coworkers had assembled in the conference room. They had the TV on. When the verdict was announced, a black coworker literally began jumping and shouting for joy. I remember being completely stunned. How could he be celebrating that a murderer just walked free?

It was probably my first realization that people in this country see things through an entirely different prism, particularly when it comes to race. The company president just shook his head in disgust. All of the white people were clearly distressed. But my coworker wasn’t the only black American celebrating. To white Americans, it was a clear miscarriage of justice. To black Americans, it was an indictment of a racist system that had sent too many of them to jail.

In hindsight, I still believe that Simpson was guilty. I also believe that the verdict was correct because the prosecution did not prove its case. The “dream team” of high priced lawyers earned their money. They cast doubt on the evidence and the police investigation. But the trial revealed a lot of ugly truths about America. First off was the famous defendant. America LOVED OJ! How could the handsome athlete who appeared on the front of a Wheaties box have possibly murdered 2 people in cold blood? There had been celebrity trials before, and there would be after, but somehow this one tarnished celebrity itself. And law enforcement! How could they have botched an investigation this big? Why would police make repeated visits to a house over domestic violence claims and do NOTHING? Sadly, that was the norm in America. In some ways, it still is. Watching an actual trial day after day was quite revealing. The testimony. The procedures. It was real, but it wasn’t pretty.

And who can forget the Bronco chase! I remember that night too. I left the party early to get home in time to watch a program. Instead, I found every channel showing live coverage of Al Cowlings driving his white Bronco down the 405 Freeway with Simpson riding shotgun and about 100 police cars following them. After that it was wall to wall coverage. And EVERYBODY involved in the case became a celebrity. Remember Kato Kaelin? Marcia Clark? Mark Fuhrman?

The trial was a boon for cable news, and a disaster for soap operas. Their audience had been declining for years as more women entered the work force. But they were constantly interrupted and pre-empted for months as networks aired the trial live. In 1995, there were 10 shows that aired in the afternoons. Today there are 4 (if you count Days of our Lives which only streams on Peacock.) The OJ trial was the original reality show. Now, there are so many judge shows, and entire channels devoted to courtroom drama.

The OJ Simpson trial also gave us the Kardashians. Keeping Simpson out of jail made Robert Kardashian a household name. His ex-wife and children have dominated entertainment for the last 2 decades. That’s reason enough to hate this trial, in my opinion.

After the verdict was broadcast, the call center returned to normal. The whole country had ground to a halt to watch the verdict, and everyone went back to work. But things were never quite the same after that.