Trump supporters should learn from O.J. Simpson supporters
By: Shamontiel L. Vaughn
Tags: Criminal Justice, Racism, OJ Simpson, Donald Trump, Election 2020

Trump supporters should learn from O.J. Simpson supporters

Know when to shut up because your guy is so very guilty

Photo credit: Gerald Johnson/Wikimedia Commons

I was surrounded by attorneys and real estate agents at a temp job I found one summer. I’d already been asked by the hiring manager if I was interested in working there full-time, and I told him I was pleased to hear I was being considered. They’d all been pretty friendly to me in the two months I’d worked there, and it paid decent money for the kind of expenses I had as a new college grad. I kept conversations light and usually only talked about entertainment news, but I’d never had any reason to not like anyone in the office — minus one guy who always gave me “the look.” But the office environment took a turn one day, as I typed away on a computer, inputting new purchasing documents.

I’m still unclear on why O.J. Simpson came up. I believe a point was trying to be made about the criminal justice system, and one attorney was trying to point out how criminals walk free. He made a smug comment about how “O.J. Simpson was guilty, and everyone knows that killer should be in jail!” I glanced up, still typing away, and responded, “Johnnie Cochran proved he wasn’t guilty, so he walked free. J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant walked, too. Were you this mad about them?”

Trump is doing the equivalent of “I’m not black, I’m OJ” in this second presidential run. He’s gone full, “I’m not even the American president, I’m the white supremacy president.”

I watched the white attorney’s face turn red. He told me I was the “problem” with the legal system. The hiring manager heard me, shook his head and said, “You should’ve just kept on being quiet. You were better off that way.”

A real estate assistant nodded her head, saying, “You really stuck your foot in your mouth this time, huh?”

I looked in both of their directions and said, “Actually, I believe he’s guilty. But again, I ask, were you this mad when Emmett Till’s killers got away with it, too?”

The real estate assistant and the manager both looked at me, confused. Finally one responded, “Who?”

I turned back to the computer. “My point exactly.”

I put my headphones on. A week later, the hiring manager asked how the job market was looking for me and saying he didn’t have “enough work” for me. I laughed. Just like that, for disagreeing with the two, I was back on the job market with a job offer off the table and genuinely couldn’t have given a fawk. (I found a full-time, higher-paying job about a month later, happily moving out of my parents’ house after less than a year of my return home with a degree.)

They mistook me being quiet for me being in agreement with their thoughts. The reality was I was silent and kept conversations light because I was listening to find out the type of attorneys — and people in general — I would be working with. I have never backed down when I felt it was important to stick up for black people or against racism. I don’t care how much money is on the table. I’d already risked expulsion for that reason alone. We both made the right decision by not working together.