What do you think?

Question

Over drinks last night we were talking about OJ. My friend Gina and I said he was TOTALLY guilty but everybody else said he wasn't. One of the girl's bf said we felt that way because we're whitebread and we were like, no we feel that way because he's a cold blooded murderer (but we WERE the only white girls in the club). I told all my friends that I would ask here so we could talk about it again next week (over a lot more drinks :-) )

So I'd like to hear from people of all races:

1) Do you think OJ do it?

2) Do you think white people are more likely to think he did it?

3) Do you think the black community gives him the benefit of the doubt?

4) Why?

Answer 1

1) We'll never know if OJ did it, because the police botched the evidence and OJ seems to delight in teasing the boundaries of decency.
2) from what I've seen, white people are less likely to give him the benefit of the doubt. He had motive, means, and opportunity, a history of violence, and was not a person very easy to sympathasise with. In contrast, consider Leonard Peltier. He's not white either, and he was convicted of a murder that many people feel was a frame-up. But he is a greatly admired by many people of all races because he lacks all the trappings of a murderer that OJ flaunts.
3) from what I've seen, black people are more likely to give him the benefit of the doubt because they've seen too many of their young men go to jail on trumped up charges or cases of mistaken identity. Some seem to feel that even if he did do it, it's only fair that he walks because so many of their men are in jail even though they're innocent.
4) different experiences shape different realities. To further complicate matters, a criminal trial found him not guilty because they could not convict him beyond all reasonable doubt. However, a civil trial, working on a lesser standard of plausible doubt, did hold him accountable for the deaths.

Answer 2

I personally have always thought for sure he did it and got away with it. The rest, I can't help you with.