OJ: Made In America

HipKat

Buffalo to The Bone!!
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Anyone here watch the series?? I'm surprised I couldn't find a thread on it, knowing some old timers post here that surely remember not only the trial but his football days.

First, the series itself is done incredibly well. The depth they went into in covering every aspect of OJ's life from a kid in the projects, how his friends viewed him, how he kept his friends close through college was something we haven't seen or heard about. I think they've done a masterful job of showing how he went from nothing to a humble, gifted athlete in his early college days, then as that humility chipped away little by little. I really thought the way they showed how he became more ingrained in the SoCal elite community, and one thing that stood out was that he never wanted to be considered a black athlete, but a talented athlete who was cherished for his abilities alone, not his skin color.

Secondly, while everyone knew about the problems between the LA police and the black community, espn did a very good job of going into a lot of detail about just HOW bad it was. The way they really got away from OJ in episode 2 and focused mainly on the problems in South Central LA for most of that episode was really enlightening. I lived in LA in the late 80's and I didn't know just how bad it was. Overall, espn has shown us details most of us never knew; for example, Mark Furman wanting to be released from the LAPD with a pension based on his attitudes towards blacks well before the murders happened. I never knew that THAT was what first triggered the interest in him being a racist and opened the door to investigating him further.

Third, the way they used interviews by people I wouldn't have expected to want to be part of this to show how OJ went from a very positive person to uncovering the dark side of him that had begun to show itself long before the murders. I thought one of the most important and telling lines was when his one friend -whose name I forget- had told him early on "OJ, you've been extremely blessed by God and you're not giving anything back to him. One day,. everyone is going to know everything you've ever done." That had come true. I had never seen video from Nicole's memorial and AC's speech really touched me. He must have been extremely conflicted because he obviously loved Nicole yet was bound to OJ by a lifelong friendship.

I thought the interviews were gripping. I wouldn't think Fuhrman would want to dredge all that up again and the way people like OJ's Agent and Mike Shipp, et al bared themselves and admitted that they knew this guy they loved was really guilty was huge. Especially when his agent said that when asked, he told OJ that he thought he probably did it and OJ's reply was that "If she hadn't answered the door with a knife, she'd still be alive".

I know the whole subject rubs people the wrong way and that people are sick of OJ and the whole thing, but this is something historic. This series is an excellent study and presentation and incredibly detailed account of every single thing that played into the entire event from the rapidly growing black community in the 50's to the abuses by the LAPD (Focusing on the Police Chiefs of those era's and how naive and racially insensitive they were) to the story of OJ. The rise and fall of someone so very famous and so very loved at the level OJ was had not ever been seen in recent times. The trial was more than just OJ, it was much bigger. It was a community vs. a Police force. It was something that had been brewing for decades and OJ was just the lynch pin that not only put that conflict into a court room but played it out live for the whole world to see.

I highly encourage everyone to put their hatred for OJ and their surface feelings aside and watch this, because it's not just another story of the OJ murders and trial, but a historic representation of the Los Angeles region and the underlying events prior to, during and after the trial.
 
Honestly, I could care less. I was done with that story a looong time ago.
 
I'm only on episode 3, but to be honest , I'm very bored by it. Yes, it's incredibly informative and if you're a big OJ fan, or someone deeply interested in his story, it's great, but for someone like myself who's just curious, I have had a hard time locking in.
That being said, the amount of old clips from his past, etc is pretty outstanding .
 
I have watched two of the 5 and want to see them all. I agree it is pretty well done and I guess it gets pretty graphic in number 4.
 
It's long. I watched half of the 1st and then paused. Can't sit thru too much of that. It does seem well done and I have them recorded, so I will catch it.
 
I am watching and I think it is very well done.

The history of the LA area and the police department is excellent.

Just finished Episode 3 and I'm shocked to see the divide among his friends. Also, I really didn't know that OJ thought of himself as "race neutral" (trying to be PC here)

Crime scene pictures are pretty graphic.

I hate the bravado OJ is starting to show in court.

He ran. To me that = guilty.
 
Ya know,.......I'm startin to think he just might have been guilty.:coffee:

I'd say, it's more probable than not, that he was generally aware of what happened.

:coffee:
 
The on demand Verizon was quite good. I'd never seen those crime photos in that detail.

OJ is a POS. He'll probably die in his bed someday but he really deserves so much more.
 
I'd read some descriptions of the crime scene: the blood and Nicole nearly being decapitated, but it was pretty frightening/disturbing to see the photos, everything awash in blood and those throat slashes. *shudders* Anyone who can do that is a monster.

Funny thing is, the cop (or one of the D.A.'s, can't remember) who speculated on what happened due to the evidence doesn't make it sound as if O.J. was blinded by rage, unless all these events took place in the span of seconds. The cop said that after O.J. sliced up Ron, giving him a fatal abdominal injury, he went back to Nicole and cut her throat and then returned to Ron and cut his. As the cop said, overkill. They were both dead by then or very close to it. Then the cop said the bloody footprints indicated a steady stride of the killer as he walked away, not panicking or in the throes of rage, sounds like.

Sure, the prosecution and the LAPD messed things up, but the DNA was strong that O.J. was the killer, and a witness saw a guy who was black and his height and weight go up the drive to Nicole's house at the time of the murders. The guy was a controlling abuser who still tried to control Nicole even after their divorce. Classic.

I guess if you believe in divine retribution, this sociopathic liar has a lot of it coming his way!
 
I'd always thought that jury used this trial as payback for Rodney King but when I heard a juror actually say that out loud during the documentary, I was sick.

The other woman juror that they interviewed said that she just wanted to go home. It had 266 nights since she'd been home. Disgusting.

And the report of the black male juror who stood up with his right fist raised as OJ walked out of the courtroom sickened me, as well. Marcia Clark stated that the guy was a Black Panther in the past.

One of the Black Community leaders talked about the verdict making the wrongs of the past 400 years right. Are you freaking kidding me?

I'm jumping off the soapbox before I get too worked up and say something stupid.
 
I'd always thought that jury used this trial as payback for Rodney King but when I heard a juror actually say that out loud during the documentary, I was sick.

The other woman juror that they interviewed said that she just wanted to go home. It had 266 nights since she'd been home. Disgusting.

And the report of the black male juror who stood up with his right fist raised as OJ walked out of the courtroom sickened me, as well. Marcia Clark stated that the guy was a Black Panther in the past.

One of the Black Community leaders talked about the verdict making the wrongs of the past 400 years right. Are you freaking kidding me?

I'm jumping off the soapbox before I get too worked up and say something stupid.
The one thing that trial (and verdict) indicated was how differently white and black people view things (such as the likelihood of a few cops lying and/or tampering with evidence).

For me, once Fuhrman got caught on the stand committing perjury, it was over. Him then taking the 5th on whether he planted evidence certainly didn't help either.

Preponderance (more probable than not) isn't enough to get a guilty verdict. The prosecution simply didn't prove he did it beyond a reasonable doubt, IMO.

Others saw it differently though, and I get that.
 
I keep saying I should watch it. But I don't really think I want to. :shrug:

Cheers
 
The one thing that trial (and verdict) indicated was how differently white and black people view things (such as the likelihood of a few cops lying and/or tampering with evidence). For me, once Fuhrman got caught on the stand committing perjury, it was over. Him then taking the 5th on whether he planted evidence certainly didn't help either. Preponderance (more probable than not) isn't enough to get a guilty verdict. The prosecution simply didn't prove he did it beyond a reasonable doubt, IMO. Others saw it differently though, and I get that.
To paraphrase the DA:
If you can constantly beat your wife with no remorse, even using a baseball bat, you see clearly willing to kill her when desired.
 
Anyone here watch the series?? I'm surprised I couldn't find a thread on it, knowing some old timers post here that surely remember not only the trial but his football days.

First, the series itself is done incredibly well.
Especially when his agent said that when asked, he told OJ that he thought he probably did it and OJ's reply was that "If she hadn't answered the door with a knife, she'd still be alive".

I know the whole subject rubs people the wrong way and that people are sick of OJ.

rial.

What does "Buffalo" think of OJ?
All the memoribilia is now in a closet?

I would think any lasting image of Herendez has been removed from the Patriot's facilities.
 
What does "Buffalo" think of OJ?
All the memoribilia is now in a closet?

I would think any lasting image of Herendez has been removed from the Patriot's facilities.

Their careers aren't comparable, though.

I'll watch the documentary because it's an interesting piece of cultural history and I followed the trial at the time (it was hard not to). I did watch the FX series with Cuba Gooding & John Travolta (Cuba Gooding was bad casting) that redramatized this. It was interesting that Christopher Darden got a bad vibe from Mark Fuhrman and didn't want to put him on the stand at all, but was also the one who chose to have OJ try on the gloves, when Marcia Clark didn't want to do that.

In the end, it was about the defense having better lawyers, from the choice of the downtown LA location, to the jury selection to everything else. If you're rich enough, it's a lot easier to get a not guilty verdict.

I didn't mind Johnnie Cochran playing that jury like a fiddle - it was his job. But, it made me sad when they read the verdict to see clips of kids at Howard or Moorehouse jumping in the air like their team had won the super bowl. Hopefully, at least most of them now would have more perspective on what actually happened.
 
The one thing that trial (and verdict) indicated was how differently white and black people view things (such as the likelihood of a few cops lying and/or tampering with evidence). For me, once Fuhrman got caught on the stand committing perjury, it was over. Him then taking the 5th on whether he planted evidence certainly didn't help either. Preponderance (more probable than not) isn't enough to get a guilty verdict. The prosecution simply didn't prove he did it beyond a reasonable doubt, IMO. Others saw it differently though, and I get that.
To paraphrase the DA:
If you can constantly beat your wife with no remorse, even using a baseball bat, you see clearly willing to kill her when desired.

I'm not clear how your post related to my post about how differently people viewed Fuhrman, his purjury, and the possibility of planted evidence.

:shrug_n:
 
Only the DNA of Nicole, Ron, and OJ was at Bundy and Rockingham, as well as in the Bronco, and on the gloves. Had any blood evidence or the gloves been planted by Fuhrman, he took a huge chance in doing so, especially without knowledge of OJ's whereabouts at the time, nor if he had a solid alibi.

I believe the savage murder of Goldman was necessitated by the need to eliminate an eye witness who could identify the killer by name, not merely by description.
 
http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleade...oj-made-in-america-isnt-about-oj-its-about-us


It's impossible not to think of Muhammad Ali when viewing O.J.: Made in America, filmmaker Ezra Edelman's absorbing five-part, seven-and-a-half-hour documentary about the rise and fall of O.J. Simpson for ESPN's venerable 30 for 30 series. When Muhammad Ali died on June 3 at the age of 74, the world didn't just mourn the loss of a gifted athlete, it also lamented the loss of a fiery political figure. He was someone who spoke truth to power, who through his actions declared that "Black Lives Matter," who refused to let the world forget that he was both black and Muslim, no matter what the cost. Those convictions cost him dearly.

That was a price O.J. Simpson refused to pay. Unlike his contemporaries Ali, Tommie Smith, John Carlos, Jim Brown, and Bill Russell, Simpson declined to speak out against racial and social injustices during the political upheaval of the 1960s and 1970s. He was disinterested in seeing himself as black, as part of a larger whole—until, that is, it became a defense strategy when he went on trial for the murder of his wife, Nicole Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994. As with every 30 for 30 installment, sports is the Trojan horse used to examine deeper matters, in this case, issues of race, class, sexuality, misogyny, and America's culture of violence, particularly violence against women.



Much more at link. Compelling article.
 
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