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OJ Simpson passed away this week at the age of 76.

Myung Chun/AFP via Getty Images

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Myung Chun/AFP via Getty Images

OJ Simpson passed away this week at the age of 76.

Myung Chun/AFP via Getty Images

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1. For most of his career, OJ Simpson was a symbol of a post-racial America.

Orenthal James Simpson, known as OJ, died Wednesday at age 76 after battling cancer.

Simpson is a football icon, celebrity and NFL pioneer. He stars in commercials, like this one Advertisement 1978 Hertz. The years-long Hertz campaign was one of the first times American audiences saw a Black spokesperson for a major national company. Simpson later became a movie star.

Since his early days in the NFL, when asked about his feelings on issues such as the civil rights movement, he has said: “I’m not black. I’m OJ!“

Dave Zirin, sports editor at Nationtold NPR that Simpson links this post-racial idea to economic success: “In his mind, that had to do with being truly unshackled by racism. And in his mind, that had to do with being a celebrity first and foremost and any what kind of spokesperson for a certain cause.”

2. Simpson became a symbol of America’s complicated relationship with race, celebrity, and justice.

In 1994, he was charged with murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. The case and subsequent trial captivated the country.

It comes just two years after four Los Angeles Police officers were acquitted. The officers have been accused of using excessive force in the beating and arrest of Rodney King, a black man. That acquittal led to six days of riots across Los Angeles.

Zirin says the Simpson trial was a giant Rorschach testin which what you think about the trial says what you believe about racism, police corruption, gender, domestic abuse and a two-tier justice system that favors the wealthy and famous.

“People have strong views and conflicting opinions on all of these topics. So O.J., who had always seen himself as a unifying figure in the United States, suddenly became one. there’s deep polarization, where what you say about OJ and the case really dictates what you believe about a bunch of other incendiary topics.”

3. Three decades later, what is the legacy of the OJ Simpson trial?

Simpson’s acquittal divided the country.

Zirin said that the ruling became an early form of a social media algorithm, in which people immediately turned on each other based on what they felt the case said about the United States.

“It’s strongly divided along racial lines, because in the black community, when they watch the trial, what they see first and foremost is Los Angeles with its history of police corruption. . they saw police officers engaging in actions or comments that were previously racist,” he said.

“And it makes people say, well, wait a minute, maybe this isn’t just about OJ but maybe this is about broader corruption in the police force and broader racism in society United States. While a whole other side is saying, oh, wait a minute, what about Nicole Brown Simpson? What about Ronald Goldman? Where’s the justice for them?”

For Zirin, the legacy of this trial is one of division and recognition.

“If we don’t have it [recognition] before, we certainly realized that after the trial – that different people see this country in completely different ways. And talk about one Flower Sometimes America can be a pipe dream.”

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This episode was produced by Marc Rivers, Kat Lonsdorf and Kathryn Fink. It was edited by Courtney Dorning and Sarah Handel. Our production manager is Sami Yenigun.