The Race Card

"The Race Card" is the fifth episode of American Crime Story: The People v. O. J. Simpson. It was written by Joe Robert Cole. It aired on March 1, 2016.

The Simpson murder trial begins when in his first contribution to the prosecution, Darden attempts to sway the jury from any racist implications of the case. His wording backfires severely when Cochran delivers a fiery and moving rebuttal, humiliating all of the prosecutors. Clark also assigns Darden to interview Mark Fuhrman and coach him on how to speak during the trial as a credible witness. Darden gets a bad feeling about Fuhrman, strongly suspecting him to be the latent racist suggested by his murky history, but Clark disregards his suspicions, leaving him increasingly conflicted about his role in the case. Meanwhile, Cochran redecorates Simpson's home, re-imagining him as being more proud and in touch with his African American identity, for a public tour. After the defense springs a surprise and illegal move by introducing new witnesses, William Hodgman suffers a panic attack and faints in court. Clark nominates Darden to replace him as co-leading prosecutor. A new obstacle emerges to the prosecution, unbeknownst to Clark, when Darden's suspicions are confirmed and Fuhrman is shown to have a collection of Nazi memorabilia.