Nineteen years ago today, O.J. Simpson was on the run.

O.J. Simpson was somehow found not guilty in the murders of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman.

It is 2012, and now I look back and realize how much that day has influenced my life.

Skipping Econ 101, the three of us sprinted over to The Student Union at UNC Chapel Hill to catch the jury’s decision. Little did we know that we were going to be joined by 1,300 others. Girlfriends were on shoulders, short people were jumping up and down trying to get a glimpse of the TVs. There was pushing and shoving. There was unrest. None like any of us had ever been a part of.

At least that’s what I thought. http://youtu.be/HcyyCi2b2AY

The crowd breakdown was probably 80% black with the remaining 20% split pretty evenly between Whites/Hispanics/Asians. Never before had I been “outnumbered”. But we were okay with that. I even embraced it.

At least that’s what I thought.

Judge Ito looked over the verdict, folded it up and gave it back to the Foreman. This is when my attention turned to the crowd. As I looked at more and more faces, I started to imagine what the mostly black crowd’s reaction would be when OJ was found guilty. And yes, I was sure he was guilty. To me, the verdict was a foregone conclusion. A famous person had committed a sensationally heinous act. Two of them actually.

At least that’s what I thought.

“Not guilty” came across the hushed room. An instant later? Pandemonium. My friends and I were shocked. I must have immediately gone through a thousand thoughts/emotions. Each one dictated by a fear. Fear that one wrong move or reaction would be read wrong. Or misinterpreted. I was sure that because I was white that I was going to judged differently and that I needed to play it cool.

At least that’s what I thought.

I look back seventeen years later and realize that was the first time in my life, that I had an understanding (albeit a small one) of what people unlike myself may have gone through. How it may have felt to exist in someone else’s world.

Because when I went off to college. I knew everything.

At least that’s what I thought.