On October 3, 1995, OJ Simpson was acquitted for the murders of his
ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ronald Goldman. The jury, consisting of
10 women and two men of which there were nine blacks, two whites, and
one Hispanic, took less than four hours to reach a unanimous decision
in the trial that had gripped America for an entire year.
The Simpson trial was held up as a litmus test for the racial chasm
that afflicted the great American experiment. During the trial, the
defense team compared the prosecution's central witness to Adolf
Hitler, and referred to him as "a genocidal racist, a perjurer,
America's worst nightmare and the personification of evil." Fears grew
that race riots would erupt all over Los Angeles. Police officers were
put on 12-hour shifts, and a line of over 100 police officers on
horseback surrounded the L.A. County courthouse on the day of the
verdict, in case of rioting by the predominantly African-American crowd.
An NBC poll taken in 2004 reported that, although 77 percent of 1,186
people sampled thought Simpson was guilty, only 27 percent of blacks in
the sample believed so, compared to 87 percent of whites. And,
following Mr. Simpson's conviction in civil court for the wrongful
death of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman, most whites believed
justice had been served while 75 percent of blacks believed the verdict
to be racially motivated, according to polling reported in USA Today.
On December 5, 2008, OJ Simpson was sentenced to what amounts to a life
sentence for armed robbery, in an atmosphere that can best be described
as anticlimactic.
On January 20, 2009, after having won almost 53 percent of all votes
cast, a black man by the name of Barack Obama will assume the office of
president of the United States.
Have we really torn down such a vast racial divide in just 14 years? I
think not. I do not believe that such a vast racial divide exists in
the America that we all live in. I know that I strain the limits of
credibility by making such a statement from the lily white confines of
the great state of Vermont, but please humor me for a moment.
In my lifetime I have seen Catholics and Protestants killing each other
for past sins, real and imagined, in Ireland. I have observed the
Middle East peace process evolving into an institution, a bureaucracy
that tries to alter the tradition of slaughter between Jews and Arabs.
Ethnic cleansing in southern Europe and the African continent has left
millions dead and mutilated. Race riots on our shores have destroyed
countless lives and property. In less violent examples, a Japanese
technician will not answer a tech support call from Korea. A Taiwanese
will not accept a call from a Chinese. And in the UK, in bold headline
type, the London Times declared that the likes of Barack Obama would never be elected in Great Britain due to institutional racism.
Racism exists everywhere and, to some extent, exists in everyone. If we
substitute the term "ignorance" for racism, we will get closer to the
heart of the issue. Ignorance of something is accompanied by a fear of
that which is not understood. Racism, then, is a manifestation of the
fear of something, or someone that we do not understand, or about which
we are ignorant. Said differently and substituting the terms in the
above sentence, we get: "Ignorance exists everywhere." And to complete
the thought, ignorance is the root cause of racism.
Ignorance is the universal evil, not racism. Ignorance fosters fear.
Ignorance fosters violence. Ignorance clouds reason and blocks the path
to understanding. It precludes the ability to realize that no
grandfather wants to see his grandchildren facing harm. It limits the
ability to understand the universal joys of art, music and the laughter
of children.
And, ignorance is curable.
So, have we received a miracle cure for ignorance in the last 14 years?
To a degree, yes. The reasoned debate spawned by the original OJ
trials, the unfortunate on-air antics of Imus in the morning, and the
oratory of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright have forced the debate into
kitchens, dining rooms and meeting halls across this great nation. The
ascension of black conservatives has forced American society to rethink
racial stereotypes. Globalism has introduced us to people who have no
common history with us ("Hello, this is Bangalore, how may I help
you?") and has introduced us to what we do have in common, be it a
laptop, toaster or lost baggage.
The America that elected Barack Obama is a different America than that
which cheered or abhorred the original OJ verdicts. It is younger, it
is wiser, it is stronger and it is less ignorant. And, most
importantly, it is a nation focused on hope, focused not on past sins
but on the boundless possibilities of a bright future, an enlightened
future, a future where we will not put our children and grandchildren
in harm's way.
During this Christmas season, remember the laughter of children and
grandchildren, laughter that is hopeful and free of the ignorance that
we accumulate over the years. Remember that the Arab, the Jew, the
Muslim, the Hindu, the Christian and the atheist all share a love of
life and family. And remember that if we concentrate on this common
ground, our ignorance of those different from us will recede with each
interaction.
Crosby lives in Fayston.
