Why Are People So Fascinated With O.J. Simpson? | First Take | ESPN

dr. Michael Eric Dyson thank you for joining us dr. Dyson now of course the OJ Simpson parole here live on many networks including ESPN yesterday our Twitter feeds were flush with OJ reaction why is America still so fascinated with OJ Simpson well I think first of all he's an incredibly powerful gifted and influential athlete it one must remember that when LJ Simpson emerged in America racial tension was at one of its peaks the the inability of the races to come together was put before us and OJ was seen as one of the first black superstars as the novelist Ralph Ellison said he with slitherin grace moved beyond lines and in between an outside of linebackers and people trying to defend him and defeat him so it physically he was a spectacle and then beyond that he was one of the first great pitchman in America along with Bill Cosby to represent interests economically and financially not only to African American people but to white America to broker an acceptance of African American people to a broader white audience and then thirdly he was a racial phenomenon because he was not a dangerous black man he was not Jim Brown he was not Kareem abdul-jabbar then Lew Alcindor he was not seen as a politically active black man who was motivated by interests in his own people and commitment to his own community to carry the water for them so he was seen as a race transcending figure when you put all that together when OJ was seen as the source of something nefarious the potential murder of two people that he was alleged to have committed and then of course finally acquitted four but most of America believed no this guy was dead was dangerous and also guilty and the contradiction between his ideal as a representative of a race transcending figure on the one hand and OJ scene as a murderer on the other hand endlessly fascinates the collective unconscious of America and stimulates us to think about how much racial progress have we truly made and OJ Simpson's case you will remember in the mid-90s represented the attempt of African American people to say that the criminal justice system has been inveterately unfair to African American people and now this machinery comes along that is OJ Simpson in his case to make a point that black people have been trying to make for decades before all of that I think occasions endless fascination with OJ and when you saw him yesterday as I did as millions of people around the country and indeed around the world saw him that smooth chocolate skin that that that charismatic figure but also people who were thinking about the deleterious and nefarious things that he had been accused of doing saw the essential contradiction and that was that's what continues to fascinate America you've got an award-winning documentary that was put out and a teleplay on television on Fox that was put out because America in the last year that because America is still fascinated with what he represents about race in this country hey dr. Dyson do you think that in the black community that that we expend in that much political capital on OJ Simpson when it was clear that he wasn't really trying to be a part of that what we call the calls trying to uplift the black community do you think there's a sense of regret in expending that political capital during that during that time in the 90s well I think not really because here's the point black people knew that old Jay wasn't invested in our community to the degree that other athletes were even recently on his album jay-z on 4:44 said Oh Jay say I'm not black I'm OJ okay so we already knew that OJ was not invested in that way but that has nothing to do with the fact that regardless of his intention his existential investment in african-american communities his political representation of black interests that regardless of that he became a simple and a carrier for the argument that the criminal justice system had often looked the other way and not dealing in a very particularly healthy and helpful way to African American people so regardless of his personal stakes black people saw that a larger message was put forth okay dr. Dyson uh that's fascinating so let's pick up on that you talked about the racial disconnect in this country starting with in the 1960s in reference to OJ's role here's the thing you point out that Oh Jay became a symbol for the in justices the racial injustice in the criminal justice system I certainly understand the value of symbols I've been on this program talking about how it became offensive to me how Colin Kaepernick treated a symbol in the American flag to further a message I understand that symbols have important roles and symbols have useful ways of communicating messages but the thing about symbols is they're messy they're inaccurate right they are inherently simplistic that's the whole point let's take something complicated and make it really really short and digestible the problem and I think this is part of our racial disconnect is OJ doesn't fit as the symbol of the racial and justices in the criminal justice system when you look at the facts and for many people regardless of race when you look at the facts of OJ's 1990's case or the incidence is around this you go but but but look at this case look at these facts look at ol J and then you go how is this the symbol and we seem to be having very very different conversations from that point forward now it's a great point symbolic symbolic expressions are inherently messy as you say but they also serve a more political use utility in the broader landscape especially when the races are conflicted you just pointed out something about OJ that many people miss that is to suggest that he was not a perfect symbol but this is what black America was trying to say that he will collect will be the white America right wet we have we Benjamin but it's a bad symbol because white people refuse to see the good symbols Martin Luther King jr. was murdered Malcolm X was mold down arguably within his own community Medgar Evers was cut down in you talk about the 1960s in Mississippi so so the murderers of Medgar Evers and Emmett Till got away cold with murder so the notion that somebody who could get away with murder existed in America didn't begin with OJ number one number two what's interesting here is that when black people said these are serious issues that need to be dealt with white America did not hear us but they heard us with OJ why because OJ was seen as a white black man Oh J was accepted within arenas of a white America that black people could never symbolically or literally darken so the point is he was the perfect symbol for white people to finally get the kind of agony the kind of grief the kind of serious injustice that they perceive what's going on with OJ because they knew he was guilty and yet he got away with murder welcome to the world of black people in America where time and again we have tried to make that argument but America has been incapable of hearing that okay-y OJ was an especially effective and powerful messenger for this particular issue

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Keywords: first take, espn first take, first take today, first take daily, dr michael eric dyson, oj, oj simpson, stephen a smith, o.j. simpson, oj simpson parole, oj simpson trial, oj simpson parole hearing, oj simpson gets parole, why are people so obsessed with oj simpson, why people like oj simpson, what did oj simpson do, oj simpson robbery, oj simpson video, sports analysis, sports scores, sports, sport, sports information, basketball, soccer, game, sports videos, football, games, ESPN

Id: d8YopkqQ204

Length: 6min 58sec (418 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 21 2017