so O.J. died yesterday

I expected when this day came there would be all kinds of Breaking News banners flying across my screens but instead I think I only saw it on a Reddit post on an altogether different topic. Apparently there was a NY Times notification that I missed. Not sure how since they send one out every time a politician or celebrity breaks a nail.

I didn’t even think to check out NBC Nightly News to see how Lester Holt would deliver the news, as is my ritual for the biggest news stories. Shows how I didn’t even know how little I cared about OJ dying.

There was a bit more hype TWO DAYS LATER when I finally saw some of those banners on the Gram. Some account posted a throwback photo of a group of what look like college students watching the verdict, the black ones cheering like it was a March Madness buzzer beater and the white ones stunned.

I had a similar experience. I had to have been working at O&M at the time because I think I remember red chairs in the conference room where we had gathered to watch the verdict. The white folk were shooketh; some gave me and the other two Black folks the side-eye, which I promptly returned, not out of any affinity for Orenthal but because How dare you try to call me out on anything related to Orenthal’s mess. Remember, He’s not Black, he’s OJ.

Traveling home I swung by Tower Records downtown as was my weekly ritual and saw a trio of Black teenage boys whooping it up and knocking over a couple of city trash cans. Oooh such rebellion! Such a statement of empowerment! I wonder what records I bought at Tower that day. I’m sure they were in no way related to the themes of football, murder, rich people, entitlement, the criminal justice system, nor misplaced solidarity.