When football star O.J. Simpson was found not guilty of the 1994 murder of his ex-wife Nicole and Ron Goldman, the black community rejoiced, while the white community largely watched in confusion and anger. It seemed that Simpson was clearly guilty, and that the not-guilty verdict was a travesty of justice. The question I had, along with many others, was this: How could so many prominent African-Americans ignore the overwhelming evidence and exult in a probable murderer going off scot-free?
Now, years later, I finally think I understand some of what that reaction was about.
As is now national news, former Penn State football defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was indicted November 4 on forty counts of sex crime charges. Making matters worse, PSU Athletic Director Tim Curley and another university official were charged with perjury and failure to report. Head football coach Joe Paterno was not indicted, as he apparently passed on a credible report to Curley in 2002.
One would have expected my reaction to be outrage, and if not outrage, at least deep concern for the children possibly abused and deprived of their innocence. But my first reaction was a reaction of concern: not for the children, and not for Sandusky, who is of course presumed innocent until proven guilty. But my concern was for the Penn State athletic program and the legacy of Joe Paterno.
I have followed the Penn State football program for my entire life. As a child, I idolized Coach Paterno and his commitment to combine success on the field with success in the classroom. Along with him, I admired Sandusky, the defensive genius, who was for years the expected successor to Joe Paterno. He played for Paterno for four years, then coached for him another thirty-two years before his retirement in 1999. He combined his outstanding career with (apparent) commitment to family and children, through his charity, The Second Mile.
Paterno’s and Sandusky’s legacies are inseparable. Guilty or not, Sandusky’s reputation is ruined. If Sandusky is found guilty, regardless of whether Paterno is implicated (and he may yet be) his incredibly successful and honorable career will be tarnished and Penn State’s athletic programs be damaged for years to come.
But, upon reflection, this is viewing the events primarily through my own personal lens. The important matter is not whether Paterno’s reputation is safe or Penn State retains its high reputation – or whether, for that matter, I can continue to view things in the same safe way as I did in my childhood. The important matter is whether or not children were sexually abused, and whether or not the conduct of people who were responsible for their well-being allowed that abuse to continue. Any other concern is ancillary and perhaps even completely irrelevant. But momentarily, I could not separate the important issues for the community, for others, from the important issues to me.
We all come at events from our own personal bias. When Simpson was declared to be innocent, many African-Americans rejoiced for themselves as well as Simpson, that in America a black man could be found innocent on a criminal charge. For them, it was personal in a way that it wasn’t for white Americans. For me, this indictment affects me personally. But how we are affected personally cannot be the controlling factor in how we respond to events.
Reflection allows for separation and subordination of purely personal concerns to concerns that are for others and the entire community. If what is charged is true, Sandusky’s concern for young people (and I do not doubt for one moment that there is a shred of decency in him and that he honestly cares for many people) could not subordinate the part of him that needed to use them for his own sexual gratification. I do not doubt that Athletic Director Tim Curley cares for young people – but he apparently allowed his concern for the reputation of the Penn State football program to trump his commitment to do the right thing for the protection of one person.
Perhaps they are no different from me. For when faced with bad news concerning a hero, my first concern was not for the possible victims. It was for my childhood hero, my loyalties, my untarnished memory of growing up living and dying with Penn State football. And therein, in the preference for personal or institutional security to the truth, lies the seed of the willingness to sacrifice others for a cherished version of reality. This is a temptation which we all face and we all must pray for the strength to overcome.
I hope and pray that Jerry Sandusky is innocent. But not primarily for my sake; nor for the sake of Coach Joe Paterno, nor of Penn State athletics. I pray that he is innocent for his sake, and for the sakes of those whom he is accused of violating.