Celebrities are different. Ito was not black but he was no less star struck than many of the rest. It’s a celebrity thing as well as a race thing.
When a black juror does vote to convict they are going to base their decision, being responsible, based on the evidence.
But for those who aren’t responsible for the decision a different dynamic seems in play.
This is, as you point out, about race ... but it isn’t just about race. Famous black people are apparently seen as representative of all black people. The myths about race require it. I’m guessing that when a famous black man is found not guilty others get to vicariously share in it ... their blackness is exonerated. Likewise it seems that many (especially white progressives) think blackness is being punished (I.e. the old style bigotry is still behind current incarceration rates).
I would like to think so. That way I can maintain my hope in humanity. False hope at that. Wrong is wrong although it seems that this is less important these days.
And there is the other side of it and the African American culture that demonizes a black person if he or she is successful because it means that they lose their identity as a black person and are a turncoat and a traitor or something. As if being dirt poor and uneducated is what all African Americans should strive for. This is insane and does more damage than anything else.