Special Effect

A Poem About the OJ Simpson Trial

special effect
(c. 1994)

oj was a brotherman
whose time had come and gone
he didn't take the witness stand
so doubts will linger on
but doubts it seems are all we have
so when the jury spoke
the vision of our certainty
in justice quickly broke

but what had been a spectacle
from day one so it seems
could scarcely prepare anyone
not d.a. nor defense teams
for the screams and yelps and cutting eyes
and open mouths and speculation
who could ever prophesy
the racial polarization
that swept across our nation

do you recall the moment
some would ask? i was at work
my pager buzzed from reuters
and i read it with a smirk
'all over but the shouting'
was my grateful comment at the time
but when i saw the tv shows
i knew there was another crime

it seems someone decided or colluded
and collided with the common sense
of reticence and in the verdict's wake
despite the few peanuts at stake...

the cameras in the 'hood went click click click
the mikes in the 'hood went stick stick stick

of violence and of mayhem all will claim a great abhorrence
but everyone had camera crews at normandie and florence

the readiness for riots was the order of the day
surprise, surprise, surprise and so it spun another way.
i witnessed jubilation, exaltation by the black
and white humiliation, sobbing, patting on the back.
which ever way the verdict went the media was clear
one race would be filmed angry
and the other in great cheer.

alarms went off inside my head
they'll say ron and nicole are dead
and all those people do is laugh and dance
when white supremacy informs
the public consciousness then storms
of fear and hate will always be the stance

way back, with koon exonerated
i felt the sting and contemplated
the standing of a black man's words of truth
when knowing that a video
could sway the public to or fro
despite whatever blacks offered as proof

and so instead of goldman
or of oj or nicole
the nation focussed harshly
on a colored jury's soul.
a verdict rendered thusly must be racial
so they say
for surely they just couldn't comprehend the dna
of johnnie and the jury in the matters of the case
there's but one theory to explain: conspiracy of race.

and if you don't believe that's true, then just watch your tv.
for all the negroes in the world are rowdies full of glee
or at least most, especially the ones that don't agree
that simpson is a killer and should never be set free.

that much joy is overstated
as the mainstream press related
happiness of the black sort
means that their view of the court
is nothing but a racial forum
without mention of the quorum
who have said most everywhere
that oj's blackness wasn't there.

until of course time magazine
played up the dark obsession
and made his cover photo darker
without much discretion

and some forget ms. harris
the ex-juror on the case
who claimed that sheriffs deputies
antagonized her race
and people claim she faked it
that race was *never* a factor
until judge ito backed her up
they called her just an actor.

but in the courtroom race itself
as a flashpoint ito denied
outside the courtroom pollsters pushed
a classic racialist divide.
they said those that believe in simpson
patently are black
and whites of course think otherwise
(and yes, we've got their back)
few pundits dared to bridge the rift
no pollster cared to split the diff
by education, party line
geography, zodiac sign
religion, history of crime,
orientation or other kind
of simple demographic
not age nor sex but racial traffic

(if i must name one, dominick dunne)

despite the fact that people vent
that oj can't be innocent
yet isn't that what we presume
until those in the jury room
have said without a doubt in fact
the man is guilty of the act?

but no, we watch the tv sets
in bedrooms, streets and foyers
we jump to place a guilty bet
and bitch about the lawyers
sworn to uphold defendants rights
in these united states
no wonder we have waco
ruby ridge and darryl gates

sad but true that two are dead
but when all is done and said
these two dead should signify
more than simply eye for eye
and tooth for tooth in a race war
(fuhrman's grinning even more
since we've chosen his world view)
and looking back i think it's true

there's nothing much to learn at all from tv murder trials
but prosecutors faces and defense attorney styles
and what a witness looks like when he's lying through his teeth
proving perjury needed no tapes so where's the beef?
the evidence admissible to television crews
spin doctored, sliced and diced and skewered daily on the news
for weeks on end, ubiquitous no matter where you tune
is bound to be quite dubious and yet since back last june
the country has sat spellbound in a simpson trial jones
a broken family's father spills his grief into our homes
a dozen pseudo witnesses sold their tales to feed the flame
a million hours of advertising bankrolling the game
but worst of all americans, despite that we've been warned
have swallowed so much swill as truth and think that we're informed.
and thinking all this edutainment legal evidence
believing the renditions of this tv farce made sense
accepting that all reason is on our side of the fence
have made ourselves the greatest fools, with racial consequence.

within just days the nation has decided from tv
not only what i'm thinking but a proper caste for me
as a black man with doubts about d.a. garcetti's case
(of course without the courage yet to say it to my face)
and though my fate is trivial, it's not for me i cry
i wonder for a moment if it's even worth a try
to believe that in our future there remains democracy
if everybody's thinking process hinges on tv
for clearly what is thought of blacks without our own consent
is taken from a broadcast of some ghetto tenement
where some for their own reasons known inside, their mouths agape
show happiness for a brief time, their smiles are caught on tape.
a smile taken callously and shown as disrespect
for bloody broken bodies...