June 13 marks twenty years since O.J., Simpson’s ex wife and boyfriend were found murdered outside their condo in California, and MSNBC’s Joy-Ann Reid chose to use her June 12 The Reid Report program to discuss the O.J. Simpson and how in Joy-Ann Reid’s words “race played into that trial.”
Lisa Bloom, legal analyst for NBC News and daughter of feminist lawyer Gloria Allred, appeared with Reid and proclaimed “I have a race discrimination case going on right now. I’m sure hoping I get African-Americans on the jury. Because I don't think whites really understand the black experience here in Los Angeles.” [See video below.]
Bloom began her comments by insisting that “I think race, along with the forensic evidence, was one of the biggest factors in the case. I don't think much has changed in the last 20 years, then as now. I practice civil rights law here in Los Angeles, and I'm sorry to say that blacks and whites in this city live in two different worlds."
The NBC legal analyst’s claim that whites don’t “really understand the experience here in Los Angeles” came in response to Joy-Ann Reid’s comments on the O.J. Simpson murder trial:
One of the things I think that's most memorable about that verdict day is the way it came down, so succinctly along the lines of black and white. You had a black man, a white woman victim, you had a jury where you had nine African-Americans, two people who were white, one who was Hispanic, and you had a reaction across the country that was literally in black and white.
See relevant transcript below.
MSNBC
The Reid Report
June 12, 2014
2:46 p.m. Eastern
JOY-ANN REID: So two decades later, what did we learn from the O.J. Simpson case? Joining me now is Lisa Bloom, attorney and legal analyst for NBC News, and my friend. Lisa, wow, the O.J. Simpson trial, I think everyone remembers sort of where they were on the day the bronco chase, the day the verdict came down. But one of the things I think that's most memorable about that verdict day is the way it came down, so succinctly along the lines of black and white. You had a black man, a white woman victim, you had a jury where you had nine African-Americans, two people who were white, one who was Hispanic, and you had a reaction across the country that was literally in black and white. What is your starkest memory of how race played into that trial?
LISA BLOOM: I think race, along with the forensic evidence, was one of the biggest factors in the case. I don't think much has changed in the last 20 years, then as now. I practice civil rights law here in Los Angeles, and I'm sorry to say that blacks and whites in this city live in two different worlds. I have a race discrimination case going on right now. I’m sure hoping I get African-Americans on the jury. Because I don't think whites really understand the black experience here in Los Angeles. The biggest part of the problem is the police treatment of African-Americans. And so many people feel disenfranchised, singled out and abused by the LAPD. When Mark Fuhrman was brought into the case and proven to be a racist, not an alleged racist, but a racist. A man who had used the "N" word over and over, who bragged about drumming up false charges against African-Americans. A man who’s now a convicted perjurer, well I think that had a huge effect on the case. Because that was the man who found the bloody glove. And I think that the jury felt that they couldn't trust the testimony, they couldn’t trust the LAPD, they couldn’t trust the investigation and that's why they came back with a not-guilty verdict.
