O.J. as a Tale of 2 Operas (Essays on the Trials of the Century)

The theme of this essay is that blacks and whites reacted differently to the O.J. criminal verdicts because they watched two different dramas unfold over the course of the trial. Many whites saw O.J. as the archetype of Otello, the heroic Moor who came to live within the midst of Europeans and married the lovely Desdemona, only to kill her in a jealous rage after she befriended another man. Many blacks perceived O.J.\u27s trial as a modernized Porgy and Bess, which features white police officers abusing power when they jail an innocent person because they are too lazy to search for the true killer. Perhaps the most important question is: will the day come when whites and blacks watch an event and see the same opera unfold