Winning is Everything
Pasadena Star-News, 12 October 1995
The results of the Simpson trial triggered outrage in most people.
Johnnie Cochran took a murder that had nothing to do with race
and turned it into an issue of racial warfare, further widening
a chasm between blacks and whites that was already too large.
The Simpson trial had nothing to do with race, and everything
to do with the stupidity of a culture, both black and white, that
exhibits the "football" mentality: It's not how you
play the game (translate: it's not a matter of honesty), it's
whether you win or lose (translate: power is the only thing that
counts). Most of the same people angered by this trial would have
been just as outraged if a rich white football celebrity had murdered
and walked free.
It's sickening to see defense attorneys praise Cochran's prowess
in court as if he were simply the winning coach in a football
game. It's hard to deal with the thought that a multimillionaire
celebrity got the finest justice that money can buy. (Very fine
justice indeed!) It's hard to deal with the thought that an individual
with the moral stature of a hyena got away with murder.
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