HEARTS OF THE CITY: Where dilemmas are aired and unsung heroes and resiliency are celebrated.

A rotating panel of experts from the worlds of philosophy, psychology and religion offer their perspective on the dilemmas that come with living in Southern California.

Today’s question: O.J. Simpson has experienced public protests and other signs of rejection by groups and institutions that disagree with his jury acquittal of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman. Is this treatment fair or unfair for someone found not guilty in a court of law?

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The Rev. Beverly Shamana

Program director for justice ministries, United Methodist Church, Southern California.

“The outrage that has followed the verdict is reminiscent of a lynch mob intent on doing violence to the justice system. The angry aftermath we are witnessing from many white people is not in the moral tradition of civil disobedience, a fundamental right of democracy. We are watching a symbolic riot through control of the airwaves and the public protest arena. It is violence acting under the guise of a just cause, but motivated by the roots of racism and white supremacy. This trial and verdict has exposed the latent underbelly of our society which has yet to come to terms with its 300-year-old history of slave and slave master. The bitter legacy continues--unacknowledged, unexamined and unforgiven.”

Dr. Maher Hathout

President, Interreligious Council of Southern California, and chief spokesman for the Islamic Center of Southern California.

“It is unfair to ostracize someone after a court of law did not convict him. Nor, in this case, should O.J. Simpson be praised. The reactions to the verdict are symptoms of a more malignant disease. We should not ignore the depth of the pain on all sides. I wish the current energy were shunted into a positive searching for the diagnosis and attempts to face ugly realities, with no denial but with no quiescence either. For example, the perception is that we have a poor justice system. There are definitely issues of race, of the rich and poor, and accessibility of ordinary people to the justice system. Another troubling phenomenon is the search for a ‘whipping boy’--whether it be O.J. Simpson, Marcia Clark, the district attorney or the police. Instead, we should deal with ways to correct the real ailments.”

Dennis Prager

Writer of the quarterly, Ultimate Issues, and founder-president of the Micah Center for Ethical Monotheism.

“Was it fair to reject the Dred Scott decision that held that blacks were not full citizens? Was it fair to reject the decisions of white racist juries when they acquitted guilty whites of murdering blacks? Then, is it fair to reject a black racist decision? Woe unto a society that puts legality above morality. In order to prevent anarchy, we need to abide by the Simpson jury decision; we must therefore not riot, as some did who disagreed with the morality of the Simi Valley jury decision on Rodney King. But we do not have to ‘honor’ the decision or the man. A social shunning of the man is morally defensible, even desirable.”

Compiled by JOHN DART / Times staff writer