Some white Americans feel vindicated by the liability judgment against O.J. Simpson --as if a wrong has been righted against white America. But there isn't enough money out there to compensate black Americans for the wrongs white America has committed against them, says Dr. Cobie Kwasi Harris, a political scientist and chair of African American Studies at San Jose State University. To heal the racial divide will take a white moral leader of the stature of Martin Luther King, Jr.

The O.J. verdict is another drop of poison in a contaminated well.

Many white Americans may feel exonerated by the verdict, as if it rights a wrong done to whites. It's ironic that whites seek justice through a liability payment when there isn't enough money out there to compensate blacks for the wrongs white America has done to us.

The civil rights movement was a tremendous act of generosity by African Americans. After centuries of barbarous treatment, we forgave white America. We said, in essence, "Let's start anew." That was the message of Martin Luther King, Jr.

The O.J. trials offered a unique opportunity for white America to reciprocate. Here was a case that captured nationwide attention, a chance for whites to acknowledge the wrongs perpetrated on blacks. But instead of generosity, the tone was one of outrage. Whites denounced what black jurors did in the first trial as a sham.

At the very least, this suggests a lack of strong, white moral leadership. And that is what is needed to heal the racial divide in America -- someone of the stature of King willing to speak of collective responsibility for the way the system has oppressed and continues to oppress black Americans. Without moral leadership in the white community, whites will be able to continue defining themselves as individuals while viewing blacks and other minorities in collective terms. This is an ideal way to avoid taking personal responsibility.

No blacks I know were surprised by the second O.J. verdict. What did you expect? was the reaction. But the Los Angeles police were out in force the night of the verdict -- as if we didn't know the difference between a Rodney King and an O.J. Simpson. It is insulting to see this evidence of their views of us as primitives.

If whites do not develop moral vision, I see an implosion coming. This generation of African Americans is the first that does not fear "the man." This is partly due to gains made by the civil rights movement -- the days of the Klan are over. But blacks -- especially young blacks -- no longer believe they have anywhere to look for remedy of very real grievances.

Once they looked to politics, but now they wonder "What has the black political class delivered to us?" And with good reason. Government jobs are drying up. As for education, 60 percent of black males are in special ed classes. That's only one measure of their alienation. The most important institution from the civil rights era -- courts -- is once again judged to be an enemy, routinely dispensing injustice: Unequal cocaine laws, disproportionate administration of the death penalty, disproportionate incarceration rates.

Alienation can reach the point where there is no choice but suicide or revolt. Already many black youth feel no stake whatsoever in the society. Look at the increase in random shootings at police cars; at how no one cared in Miami when the Brinks truck spewed dollars onto the freeway. Look at the young men who tried to bomb a Vallejo, Ca., courthouse to avoid a third strike conviction.

I think white people are more afraid of blacks than ever before. They never stop a black man in Richmond with just one cop. School teachers who have a problem with a black kid call security immediately.

Blacks threaten America in a way only one other group -- native Americans -- can. Both groups are so aggrieved they can not be reconciled. Whites never know what blacks are going to do next -- they can't predict when we will explode, but they can never count us out.

The next stage of black resistance may well make the confrontations of the civil rights era look like a tea party.