I actually thought the questions were very generic. I was looking for more in-depth questioning on how he approached the role, time on the set, how did the cast handle the situations that came up in the script, etc. An actor as Mr. Vance deserved a better profile, his work in this series is amazing.
I don't think it really behooves a talented and privileged man to celebrate as payback the slaughter of two innocent young people, solely because the slaughterer shares his race, and they happened not to.
3
I love Vance's work, but most of his answers here seem cliched and thin.
Cochran, a brilliant attorney, did his job in defending his client regardless of guilt as ably as he could. Centuries of racial injustice doesn't excuse any of us avoiding the fact that a multiple murderer got away with it.
2
vance, if a little dodgy in the q&a, is a brilliant actor...cochran played the race card, the whole deck, actually, and got home on the bet he made on the national disgrace that won't be over until we make it over.
Excellent questions. The answers, not so much.
3
When the O.J. verdict came down, I was teaching freshman composition at a private college in Indianapolis. I am white. Most of the students at the college were also white, as were those in my class, with the exception of one black female student, who always sat right up front. As we were focusing on writing persuasive essays, I suggested we discuss the verdict as a way to draw out student opinion & ways to support those opinions with facts & logic. A few white students ventured wonderment at the outcome given how "in the bag" O.J.'s guilt had seemed. Silence fell. I glanced at the black student, who stared at her desk, her hands shading her eyes. Jolted out of my "white-think," I realized that however color-blind I prided myself on being, it wasn't shared at all by this young black woman, who had no interest in or obligation to being the voice of her race. Lesson learned, instructor under advisement.
5
I don't understand the anger at the cops. They came thinking somebody had broken into his house because a security patrol he presumably hired called them. He was polite. They were doing their jobs. They figured it out. End of story.
They were there to protect him and his property - presumably in a very exclusive neighborhood. Be polite to men with guns who spend their lives worrying that the next guy is going to take a shot at them. For that matter, be polite to people in uniforms of all kinds who have stressful jobs and don't diss their authority, however small.
I was at LGA one afternoon and an Indian or Pakistani security guy asked some white guy to get rid of the bottle of water he was carrying because they weren't going to let it through security. The poor guy was just doing his job. And the white guy made it into a federal case - he demeaned the poor man and embarrassed pretty much everybody in the security line including his wife. The guy deserved to be smacked.
I'm actually kind of ashamed of myself. I should have said, "look buddy, the guy's just doing his job. You're going to have to get rid of the water. He's trying to save you a fight with the TSA guy and those guys are Feds. So leave him alone." A lot of things that are taken as racism are just a lack of respect and good manners. Instead I let him berate this poor guy. Shame on me.
They were there to protect him and his property - presumably in a very exclusive neighborhood. Be polite to men with guns who spend their lives worrying that the next guy is going to take a shot at them. For that matter, be polite to people in uniforms of all kinds who have stressful jobs and don't diss their authority, however small.
I was at LGA one afternoon and an Indian or Pakistani security guy asked some white guy to get rid of the bottle of water he was carrying because they weren't going to let it through security. The poor guy was just doing his job. And the white guy made it into a federal case - he demeaned the poor man and embarrassed pretty much everybody in the security line including his wife. The guy deserved to be smacked.
I'm actually kind of ashamed of myself. I should have said, "look buddy, the guy's just doing his job. You're going to have to get rid of the water. He's trying to save you a fight with the TSA guy and those guys are Feds. So leave him alone." A lot of things that are taken as racism are just a lack of respect and good manners. Instead I let him berate this poor guy. Shame on me.
3
The history and presence of racial injustice and profiling in America should never be an used as an excuse to get a man off for murdering two people.
15
"We had to fit into that environment, and we had to know how to exist, how to do it. There was no class for it".
That, says it all. Blacks to succeed ,especially in the business world, have to navigate "white culture". I'm not talking about intimating their food, music,dress etc. Ethnic groups have no problem crossing over into those areas. I'm talking about their minds, their thought process, their reactions. Not only the so called "white liberal" who we classify in the black community as someone who might give us black folks a break. But the "white conservative" who we classify in the black community as what Jesse Jackson use to say "it's not the bus it's us"
Nathan Lane hit it dead on the nail playing F. Lee Bailey before the southern judges trying to persuade them to release the Fuhrman tapes. Cochran didn't have a clue. Not saying the "white culture" is bad ( blacks could learn some customer service) but they are in charge, they make the rules. The only time they (I know them and us) have to examine minorities ways of thinking is when trying to market a product or service.
It's a heavy burden trying to figure out how another human being is going to react to you because of your color. It is ALWAYS in the back of our minds.
That, says it all. Blacks to succeed ,especially in the business world, have to navigate "white culture". I'm not talking about intimating their food, music,dress etc. Ethnic groups have no problem crossing over into those areas. I'm talking about their minds, their thought process, their reactions. Not only the so called "white liberal" who we classify in the black community as someone who might give us black folks a break. But the "white conservative" who we classify in the black community as what Jesse Jackson use to say "it's not the bus it's us"
Nathan Lane hit it dead on the nail playing F. Lee Bailey before the southern judges trying to persuade them to release the Fuhrman tapes. Cochran didn't have a clue. Not saying the "white culture" is bad ( blacks could learn some customer service) but they are in charge, they make the rules. The only time they (I know them and us) have to examine minorities ways of thinking is when trying to market a product or service.
It's a heavy burden trying to figure out how another human being is going to react to you because of your color. It is ALWAYS in the back of our minds.
8
Brilliantly played by Mr. Vance. However, nowhere in this article do you discuss the tragedy that two beautiful young people were literally butchered. Cochran was an opportunist - not a man seeking justice. This injustice remains to be open wound.
11
Vance has that anger in his constitution to perform this role perfectly.
1
A remarkable talent with something incisive to say!
"I mean, is any of us deserving of grace." Apparently not O.J.'s victims. I didn't understand the cheering at the time, and I still don't...
12
This show has been a revelation! A great cast, well-written and directed scripts every week and exploring topical issues that still reverberate today. I've enjoyed Vance in other movies and shows in the past. His work on this show has been great.
7
Courtney B. Vance's performance as Johnnie Cochran is perfection. All of the actors in the limited series are dazzling. I can't turn away from the screen. It's mind bending to watch this series 20 years after the fact and still be shocked by trial content, the recall of the times and to wonder - has anything changed?
6