Remembering Ron Goldman
Every July 2, I am thrown back to 1994 and the time when a sports figure’s murder trial was plastered on every newspaper, magazine and tabloid, hijacking tv programs for months and being an endless topic of water cooler discussion and heated debates.
What was apparent then and remains apparent now was how Ron Goldman is lost in the shuffle of celebrity, domestic abuse and racial tensions. He was unidentified when the murders were discovered and it’s sad that even today, he is a second-class citizen behind the killer and Nicole Brown.
Nothing against Nicole — she was a victim and most certainly did not deserve what befell her . But she wasn’t the only victim. Ron lost his life too and he did so while trying to help her. Painful enough that he’s been relegated to footnote status in the entire saga but very few people acknowledge that Ron was a hero. As his sister has said, he could have saved himself when he either saw Nicole dead on the ground or witnessed her being attacked but he didn’t do that.
So much ink has been spilled about the killer’s violent streak, his womanizing, his repetitive legal troubles; the public seems more interested in idolizing him than the young man who put someone else’s safety above his own. It’s shameful. Shouldn’t we know that Ron was a loving son and brother, close with his father and sister, dedicated to his friends…