On the Right

THE reaction, in private quarters, was different from the reaction to the bizarre exoneration of O. J. Simpson in 1995. In that case, the jury hardly paused before entering a verdict of Not Guilty. This time around, it was seven days of deliberation, though the final results did not suggest any schismatic bodies holding out for a guilty verdict. And-truly important—the race question wasn’t a factor. Incredibly, there was not, seated, a single black juror. Those who followed the trial were surprised that racial prejudice wasn’t brought up more insistently by Jackson supporters. One can only imagine the hue and cry on this subject if Jackson had been found guilty. The defense of O. J. was based blatantly on alleged racial discrimination. Aconcise view of it is that if O. J. had been white, he almost certainly would have been convicted.

A big difficulty with Michael Jackson has to do with what the jurors were being asked to convict him for doing. One of his first hit songs at the superstar level, 25 years ago, was called, “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough.” Nice young men and nice young girls would not use such language except in smokers. Certainly they would not bid for market approval in a song so labeled. Jackson not only did so, he was awarded a Grammy for it. Such data persuaded the jury that Jackson had to be thought of as a man from another culture.

About the Author

William F. Buckley Jr.

William F. Buckley Jr. founded National Review magazine in 1955.

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THE reaction, in private quarters, was different from the reaction to the bizarre exoneration of O. J. Simpson in 1995. In that case, the jury hardly paused before entering a verdict of Not Guilty. This time around, it was seven days of deliberation, though the final results did not suggest any schismatic bodies holding out for a guilty verdict. And-truly important—the race question wasn’t a factor. Incredibly, there was not, seated, a single black juror. Those who followed the trial were surprised that racial prejudice wasn’t brought up more insistently by Jackson supporters. One can only imagine the hue and cry on this subject if Jackson had been found guilty. The defense of O. J. was based blatantly on alleged racial discrimination. Aconcise view of it is that if O. J. had been white, he almost certainly would have been convicted.

A big difficulty with Michael Jackson has to do with what the jurors were being asked to convict him for doing. One of his first hit songs at the superstar level, 25 years ago, was called, “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough.” Nice young men and nice young girls would not use such language except in smokers. Certainly they would not bid for market approval in a song so labeled. Jackson not only did so, he was awarded a Grammy for it. Such data persuaded the jury that Jackson had to be thought of as a man from another culture.