In 1995, there were two very different versions of the O.J. Simpson trial playing out. For most of the country, the trial was a spectacle. A lot of crazy stuff happened — so much that most people don’t remember all of it.
Overnight, for example, the National Enquirer tabloid morphed into a crack legal publication that broke several exclusive stories about the proceedings. They had 20 reporters working on the case, coming up with transcripts and scoops that everyone else missed. And of course, Norm Macdonald made so many jokes about the case that he was fired from SNL because of it. In the decades since, there hasn’t been any trial remotely like it — covered wall-to-wall, for months, by pretty much every channel in America. It was entertainment.
At the same time, in black areas of Los Angeles, and in major cities all over the country, the O.J. Simpson trial wasn’t just a…
