It was a polarizing thing. I was in a public space when the verdict was announced. The blacks in the audience cheered and proceeded to essentially riot. The whites expressed nothing but disgust.
Later, when I was teaching, I used his acquittal to illustrate the double jeopardy clause of the fifth amendment. I told my students that after the verdict, Simpson could write a book titled "Yes, I Did It and Here's How."
One of my students took that to mean I had declared him guilty. I then had the pleasure of sitting in the principal's office as her distinctly uneducated mother loudly and profanely ranted about "racism." The more calmly and rationally our principal explained the basis if the points being made in the classroom and the meaning behind it, the louder she got.
I think about that sometimes now. I doubt the outcome would be the same today as it was then.
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