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Abstract
While critiques of racial essentialism have demonstrated decisively that race is rhetorically contingent, institutions of white privilege nevertheless remain distressingly durable. The continuing media coverage of Orenthal James “O.J.” Simpson since his 1995 acquittal exemplifies this chronic temporality of whiteness discourse. Over time, the Simpson case has become a series that gradually coordinated “black” and “white” collective subjects by stagnating and suspending the popular attachment to Simpson. The serial form eventually unmarked these racialized subject-positions, while retaining the white subject-position as a seemingly race-neutral norm. Serial temporality normalizes whiteness through a circular rhythm that vacillates between the disavowal of and possessive investment in white privilege.
Keywords:
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank Barbara Biesecker, Aimee Carrillo Rowe, David Hingstman, Hemani Hughes, Michael Lawrence, John Sloop, participants in the Criticism Workshop at the 2008 Kenneth Burke Society Conference, and the QJS editorial team for their guidance and constructive criticism during the development of this essay.
Notes
1. The literature on media representations of the first Simpson trial is rich and quite extensive. For a state-of-the-art engagement with this body of literature that focuses on white hegemony, see Greg Dickinson and Karrin Vasby Anderson, “Fallen: O.J. Simpson, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and the Recentering of White Patriarchy,” Communication & Critical/Cultural Studies 7 (2004): 271–96.
2. See especially Ruth Frankenberg, “The Mirage of an Unmarked Whiteness,” in The Making and Unmaking of Whiteness, ed. Birgit Brander Rasmussen, Eric Klinenberg, and Irene J. Nexica (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2001), 72–96; Kalpana Seshadri-Crooks, Desiring Whiteness: A Lacanian Analysis of Race (New York: Routledge, 2000).
3. Accounts of race that emphasize its non-essential, rhetorically contingent character have become a commonplace in the field of communication studies. For an exemplary treatment of this body of work and its implications for considering the material force of racial discourse, see Lisa A. Flores and Dreama G. Moon, “Rethinking Race, Revealing Dilemmas: Imagining a New Racial Subject in Race Traitor,” Western Journal of Communication 66 (2002): 181–207.
4. Many rhetorical critics have demonstrated the changing character of racial subjectivation at different historical moments, including Dexter B. Gordon, Black Identity: Rhetoric, Ideology, and Nineteenth-Century Black Nationalism (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2003), xv; Jacqueline Bacon, “‘Acting as Freemen’: Rhetoric, Race, and Reform in the Debate over Colonization in Freedom's Journal, 1827–1828,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 93 (2007): 58–83; Gordon Nakagawa, “‘No Japs Allowed’: Negation and Naming as Subject-Constituting Strategies Reflected in Contemporary Stories of Japanese American Internment,” Communication Reports 3 (1990): 22–27; Nathaniel I. Córdova, “The Incomplete Subject of Colonial Memory: Puerto Rico and the Post/Colonial Biopolitics of Congressional Recollection,” Communication Review 11 (2008): 42–75; Todd McDorman, “History, Collective Memory, and the Supreme Court: Debating ‘the People’ through the Dred Scott Controversy,” Southern Communication Journal 71 (2006): 213–34; Fernando Delgado, “Chicano Movement Rhetoric: An Ideographic Interpretation,” Communication Quarterly 43 (1995): 446–54; Robert E. Terrill, “Colonizing the Borderlands: Shifting Circumference in the Rhetoric of Malcolm X,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 86 (2000): 67–85.
5. Christopher Lane, “Introduction,” in The Psychoanalysis of Race (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998), 10; Seshadri-Crooks, Desiring Whiteness, 4.
6. Flores and Moon, “Rethinking Race, Revealing Dilemmas,” 181–82.
7. Rhetoricians often differentiate kairos from chronos in order to define a distinct conceptual space for kairos. E.g., Richard Benjamin Crosby, “Kairos as God's Time in Martin Luther King Jr.'s Last Sunday Sermon,” Rhetoric Society Quarterly 39 (2009): 262; Dale L. Sullivan, “Kairos and the Rhetoric of Belief,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 78 (1992): 317. While maintaining this important distinction, many scholars have recently set a generative precedent for thinking kairos and chronos together. E.g., Elizabethada Wright, “Reading the Cemetery, Lieu de Mémoire Par Excellance,” Rhetoric Society Quarterly 33 (2003): 36; John E. Smith, “Time and Qualitative Time,” in Rhetoric and Kairos: Essays in History, Theory, and Praxis, ed. Phillip Sipiora and James S. Baumlin (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002), 46–57; Catherine R. Eskin, “Hippocrates, Kairos, and Writing in the Sciences,” in Sipiora and Baulin, Rhetoric and Kairos, 98–99; James S. Baumlin and Tita French Baumlin, “Chronos, Kairos, Aion: Failures of Decorum, Right-Timing, and Revenge in Shakespeare's Hamlet,” in Sipiora and Baumlin, Rhetoric and Kairos, 177–80.
8. Smith, “Time and Qualitative Time,” 47.
9. Michael C. McGee, “In Search of ‘the People’: A Rhetorical Alternative,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 61 (1975): 242.
10. McGee, “In Search of ‘the People,’ ” 246.
11. Maurice Charland, “Constitutive Rhetoric: The Case of the Peuple Québécois,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 73 (1987): 140.
12. Charland, “Constitutive Rhetoric,”140.
13. Charland, “Constitutive Rhetoric,” 137.
14. Howard Kurtz, “Media Squeeze More Juice out of O.J.: The Latest Chapter in the Granddaddy of Celebrity Sagas,” Washington Post, September 18, 2007.
15. CNN, “O.J. Simpson Sentenced,” Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees, December 5, 2008.
16. Kurtz, “Media Squeeze More Juice.”
17. CNN, “O.J. Accused of Burglary,” Showbiz Tonight, September 14, 2007.
18. Mike Littwin, reprinted in “O.J. Back in News, but Few Applauding,” USA Today, September 21, 2007. On repetitive form, see Kenneth Burke, Counterstatement (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968), 125.
19. CNN, “Will O.J. Finally Be Put Away?” Glenn Beck, September 17, 2007.
20. ABC, “O.J. Simpson Book, TV Special Canceled,” Nightline, November 20, 2006.
21. CNN, “Bail Set for O.J. Simpson,” CNN Newsroom, September 19, 2007.
22. CBS, “O.J. Simpson to Be Arraigned in Las Vegas Courtroom,” The Early Show, September 19, 2007.
23. Kurtz, “Media Squeeze More Juice.”
24. CNN, “O.J. Simpson Released on Bail,” Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees, September 19, 2007.
25. Fox News, “Fourth Suspect in O.J. Simpson Armed Robbery Case Arrested,” On the Record with Greta van Susteren, September 18, 2007.
26. James Poniewozik, “Three-Peat,” Time, October 1, 2007, 15.
27. John L. Austin, How to Do Things with Words (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1975), 117–19.
28. CNN, “Did O.J. Simpson Know about Guns in Alleged Robbery?” Out in the Open, November 13, 2007.
29. ABC, “Catch and Release: O.J. Simpson Free on Bail,” World News, September 19, 2007.
30. Steve Friess, “Simpson's Past Trial Looms over Court,” New York Times, September 15, 2008.
31. Karl Vick, “Simpson Could Get Life in Prison,” Washington Post, October 5, 2008.
32. CNN, “O.J. Simpson Arraigned,” CNN Newsroom, September 19, 2007; Poniewozik, “Three-Peat.”
33. National Public Radio, “O.J.'s Back in Court: Does Anybody Care?” News & Notes, September 24, 2008.
34. Toni Morrison, “The Official Story: Dead Man Golfing,” in Birth of a Nation'hood: Gaze, Script, and Spectacle in the O.J. Simpson Case, ed. Toni Morrison and Claudia Brodsky Lacour (New York: Random House, 1997), xix; Kimberly A. Neuendorf, David Atkin, Leo W. Jeffries, Theresa Loszak, and Alicia Williams, “Explorations of the Simpson Trial ‘Racial Divide,’” Howard Journal of Communications 11 (2000): 247–66; George Lipsitz, The Possessive Investment in Whiteness: How White People Profit from Identity Politics (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998), 99–117; Michael Eric Dyson, Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line (New York: Vintage Books, 1997), 10–26.
35. E.g., Courtland Milloy, “In White Riot, It's Smolder, Baby, Smolder,” Washington Post, October 8, 1995; Patricia Edmonds, “The Moment,” USA Today, October 4, 1995; “From a Texas Jail to New York City, Plenty of Room for Views,” Washington Post, October 4, 1995.
36. Lorraine Adams, “180 Degrees Separate Black, White Views of O.J. Simpson Case,” Washington Post, July 30, 1995.
37. Isabel Wilkerson, “Whose Side to Take: Women, Outrage and the Verdict on O.J. Simpson,” New York Times, October 8, 1995; Jonathan Alter, Mark Miller, Karen Springen, and Pat Wingert, “Black & White & Read All Over,” Newsweek, August 1, 1994, 18; Ellis Cose, “Getting Past the Myths,” Newsweek, February 17, 1997, 36.
38. For an exemplary critique of how racial statistics function as rhetorical rather than empirical instruments, see Stephanie Houston Grey, “The Statistical War on Equality: Visions of American Virtuosity in The Bell Curve,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 85 (1999): 310.
39. E.g., Morrison, “Official Story,” xix; Neuendorf et al., “Explorations of the Simpson”; Sandra Silberstein, “Teaching Culture: Imagined Communities and National Fantasies in the O.J. Simpson Case,” Journal of Language, Identity & Education 2 (2003): 325.
40. Charisse Jones, “Nicole Simpson, in Death, Lifting Domestic Violence to the Forefront as National Issue,” New York Times, October 13, 1995.
41. Morrison, “Official Story,” xix.
42. Charland, “Constitutive Rhetoric,” 137.
43. CNN, “O.J. Simpson Held without Bail on Robbery Charges,” CNN Live Event/Special, October 18, 2007.
44. CNN, “O.J. Simpson Arrest for Armed Robbery,” CNN Breaking News, September 16, 2007.
45. Friess, “Simpson's Past Trial Looms.”
46. Fox News, “O.J. Simpson Sentenced.”
47. CNN, “Did O.J. Simpson Know.”
48. Fox News, “O.J. Simpson Sentenced.”
49. Fox News, “O.J. Simpson out on Bail,” The Big Story with John Gibson, September 20, 2007.
50. CNN, “Bail Set for O.J.”
51. Joan Smith, “In the Hierarchy of Bigotry, Women Still Come Bottom,” The Independent, October 8, 1995.
52. David L. Ulin, “Goldmans Victimize Themselves,” Los Angeles Times, April 22, 2007.
53. Darryl Fears, “Black Opinion on Simpson Shifts,” Washington Post, September 27, 2007.
54. Joel Stein, “It's Payback Time,” Time, December 31, 2007, 156.
55. Steve Friess, “Stark Contrast to the '90s as Simpson Is Convicted of Armed Robbery and Kidnappping,” New York Times, October 5, 2008.
56. Fears, “Black Opinion on Simpson.”
57. Fears, “Black Opinion on Simpson.”
58. CNN, “O.J. Simpson Released.”
59. CNN, “Why Are We Obsessed with O.J.?” Glenn Beck, September 18, 2007.
60. National Public Radio, “O.J.'s Return,” News & Notes, November 20, 2006.
61. ABC, “Should O.J. Special Be Aired?” Good Morning America, November 20, 2006.
62. CNN, “Did O.J. Simpson Know.”
63. Friess, “Simpson's Past Trial Looms.”
64. National Public Radio, “‘Shop’ Takes on Obama,” Tell Me More, September 12, 2008.
65. CNN, “O.J. Simpson Arrested,” Breaking News, September 16, 2007.
66. William M. Welch, “Simpson Jury Held Strong Views on Past,” USA Today, October 6, 2008.
67. Steve Friess, “Simpson Defense Alleges Police Glee in His Arrest,” New York Times, September 19, 2008.
68. Friess, “Simpson Defense Alleges Police.”
69. NPR, “‘Shop’ Takes on Obama.”
70. William M. Welch, “Simpson Robbery Trial Reflects Vegas’ Seedy Side,” USA Today, September 15, 2008.
71. Shaun Powell, reprinted in “O.J. Back in News.”
72. The colloquialism “jump the shark” references an episode in the Happy Days television series; the term more generally refers to the moment when a once-popular television show goes into decline.
73. CNN, “O.J. Simpson Arrested,” Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees, September 17, 2007.
74. CNN, “O.J. Simpson Arrested,” September 17, 2007.
75. ABC, “Closing Argument, Justice Served?” Nightline, December 5, 2008; CNN, “O.J. Simpson Sentenced,” Showbiz Tonight, December 5, 2008.
76. CNN, “O.J. Simpson Questioned in Casino Sports Memorabilia Robbery,” Nancy Grace, September 14, 2007.
77. CNN, “O.J. Simpson Arrested,” September 17, 2007.
78. Fox News, “O.J. Simpson Arrested,” The Big Story with John Gibson, September 17, 2007.
79. CNN, “O.J. Simpson Released on Bail”; Fox News, “O.J. Simpson Arrested”; NPR, “‘Shop’ Takes on Obama.”
80. Lloyd F. Bitzer, “The Rhetorical Situation,” Philosophy & Rhetoric 1 (1968): 6.
81. CNN, “Will O.J. Finally Be”; CNN, “O.J. Simpson Questioned.”
82. DeWayne Wickham, “O.J. Couldn't Break Away from Bad Judgments,” USA Today, October 7, 2008.
83. Welch, “Simpson Jury Held Strong.”
84. CNN, “Bail Set for O.J.”
85. CNN, “More Details of O.J. Simpson Burglary Arrest,” CNN Breaking News, September 16, 2007.
86. Stein, “It's Payback Time.”
87. CNN, “Why Are We Obsessed.”
88. CNN, “Will O.J. Finally Be.”
89. Fox News, “O.J. Simpson Freed on $125,000 Bond,” On the Record with Greta van Susteren, September 19, 2007.
90. ABC, “Headlines,” Good Morning America, October 5, 2008.
91. CNN, “O.J. Simpson Held without Bail”; Fox News, “O.J. Simpson Arrested.”
92. ABC, “O.J. in Court Today: New Charges Could Mean Life in Prison,” Good Morning America, September 19, 2007; William Booth, “On Bail, Simpson Is Freed from Jail,” Washington Post, September 20, 2007.
93. CNN, “O.J. Charged with 10 Felony Counts,” The Situation Room, September 18, 2007.
94. Fox News, “O.J. Simpson Arrested.”
95. CBS, “Andrew Cohen on O.J. Simpson's Armed Robbery Arrest,” Evening News, September 16, 2007; MSNBC, Countdown, September 18, 2007.
96. E.g., ABC, “Will O.J. Get Life?” Good Morning America, September 9, 2007; CNN, “More O.J. Controversy,” Showbiz Tonight, September 18, 2007.
97. E.g., Fox News, “O.J. Simpson Sentenced to Serve”; CNN, “Why Are We Obsessed.”
98. E.g., NBC, “O.J. Simpson Arrested on Armed Robbery Charges,” Today, September 17, 2007; Fox News, “Co-Defendant Claims O.J. Wanted Guns Brought to Vegas Hotel Room,” On the Record with Greta van Susteren, October 18, 2007; CNN, “Did O.J. Simpson Know.”
99. Fox News, “O.J. Simpson Arrested.”
100. Kenneth Burke, A Grammar of Motives (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969), 517.
101. CNN, “O.J. Simpson Guilty on All Charges,” CNN Newsroom, October 4, 2008.
102. ABC, “Headlines,” Good Morning America, October 4, 2008.
103. NBC, “Dan Abrams on the O.J. Simpson Robbery Verdict,” Today, October 5, 2008; Alex Tresniowski, Howard Breuer, Lorenzo Benet, Ken Lee, and Mark Gray, “Squeezed Again,” People, October 1, 2007, 83; CNN, “O.J. Simpson Arrested.”
104. Bill Hewitt and Mark Gray, “O.J. Simpson Guilty! And Headed to Prison,” People, December 22, 2008, 87.
105. ABC, “Jail Time: End of the Saga,” World News, December 5, 2008.
106. Fox News, “O.J. Simpson Sentenced.”
107. Fox News, “O.J. Simpson Arrested.”
108. Fox News, “O.J. Simpson Sentenced.”
109. Fox News, “Strange Saga of O.J. Continues,” Hannity and Colmes, September 17, 2007; Fox News, “O.J. Simpson Arrested.”
110. CNN, “More O.J. Controversy.”
111. CNN, “O.J. Simpson Guilty on All Charges.”
112. Thomas K. Nakayama and Robert L. Krizek, “Whiteness: A Strategic Rhetoric,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 81 (1995): 291–309.
113. John Fiske, Media Matters: Everyday Culture and Political Change (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994), 42. For a comprehensive review, see Birgit Brander Rasmussen, Eric Klinenberg, Irene J. Nexica, and Matt Wray, “Introduction,” in The Making and Unmaking of Whiteness, ed. Birgit Brander Rasmussen, Eric Klinenberg, and Irene J. Nexica (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2001), 1–24. See also Carrie Crenshaw, “Resisting Whiteness’ Rhetorical Silence,” Western Journal of Communication 61 (1997): 253–78; Jennifer Lyn Simpson, “The Color-Blind Double Bind: Whiteness and the (Im)Possibility of Dialogue,” Communication Theory 18 (2008): 139–59; Elizabeth Abel, Barbara Christian, and Helene Moglen, ed., Female Subjects in Black and White (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997), 10; Anne Anlin Cheng, The Melancholy of Race (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 10; Dickinson and Vasby Anderson, “Fallen,” 282; Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, “Colorblind Dreams and Racial Nightmares: Reconfiguring Racism in the Post–Civil Rights Era,” in Morrison and Brodsky, Birth of a Nation'hood, 97–168.
114. Williams Crenshaw, “Colorblind Dreams and Racial,” 141.
115. E.g., Nakayama and Krizek, “Whiteness,” 292.
116. E.g., Frankenberg, “Mirage of an Unmarked Whiteness.”