Over the past two weeks, I finished watching When They See Us and The People vs. O.J on Netflix. I watched part 1 of When They See Us and took a week break because, well, it’s sad. In that week, I watched The OJ series and I know I’m late on it but it was really shocking how much evidence they had and he was proven innocent.
All The Evidence In The World and No Conviction
OJ was known to be abusive to his ex-wife Nicole Brown, according to police calls ad documents. He was also known as being a charming professional football player. He wasn’t caught at the scene of the crime, but his blood was there. A glove was found at the scene at the crime, but it didn’t fit his hand. When he got the call about Nicole being dead, he didn’t ask how she died. OJ was on a whole speed chase with his friend Aj Cowlings driving him because he was threatening to kill himself. Why would he threaten to kill himself if he didn’t kill Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman? There were too many red flags. Of course Black people wanted him to be innocent because there have been several instances where black people were wrongfully convicted and it was probably time for a black person to get away with something. An instance when black people were wrongfully convicted were the Central Park 5, also known as the Exonerated 5, also known as Korey Wise, Yusef Salaam, Antron McCray, Raymond Santana, and Kevin Richardson.
The story about the exonerated 5 is this; five young boys [Korey Wise, Yusef Salaam, Antron McCray, Raymond Santana, and Kevin Richardson] were accused of raping a white woman jogging in Central Park on April 19, 1989. They were coerced into admitting to the crime so they would get less time. No DNA placed them at the scene of crime. Yes, they were in the park around the time of the incident but they were on a totally different side. Some fight broke out at the park and as some of them were trying to leave, they got picked up by the police. The next day, the police picked up the others and one in particular, Korey, came along with his friend Yusef just so he wouldn’t be alone.
The police accused these young boys because they were black and they so happened to be at the park at the wrong time. They manipulated them so bad they made Korey, Yusef, Kevin, Antron and Raymond make up stories and pin stories against each other just so they could leave the police station. Some of the boys were questioned without a parent present. This was a sad story to watch because the boys were so young and didn’t know how corrupt the system was. Between the 5 of them, they spent between 6 years to 13 years behind bars. Even though the real rapist admitted to the crime, the men had already did their time. Korey was still doing time when Matias Reyes admitted to the crime and he was even in prison with him.
The exonerated 5 sued the City of New York and got a large settlement, but no amount of money could give these men back the time they spend in prison and the time they lost. They will forever be mentally scarred from this traumatic life event.
My Analysis
It’s crazy how the system doesn’t properly serve justice but it’s a reality. In New York, Korey, Yusef, Antron, Kevin and Raymond were young boys, kids in a sense and they were 100% innocent but the way Linda Fairstein saw it, they were black, young and guilty. Innocent kids were forced into a juvenile detention and even prison all over the rape of a woman (in which they didn’t do). The prosecution placed judgement on them and wanted to so desperately solve this case, even if it meant wrongfully convicting someone. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, during their sentence, O.J is found not guilty of murdering Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. As I stated above, black people have been wrongfully convicted for years and it was time for a black person to get away with something but murder tho? With plain site DNA? What if some of jurors (the many that were selected) knew that OJ was guilty and they paid attention to the Central Park 5 case that happened in ’89 and figured “Those boys were innocent, OJ isn’t but we’re gonna vote not guilty anyway.” It’s sounds crazy but it’s a thought. The justice system has still come a ways, but they have a long way to go, especially with police brutality and them being proven innocent.
What are your thoughts on the two cases? Comment below and let me know.
Danii Gold out
Danii Gold 