For weeks, the news media feared the outcome of the O.J. Simpson trial would be a repeat of Rodney King. But a group of young black writers expressed greater concern about a repeat of the backlash that occurred after another famous California case: that of kidnap victim Polly Klaas, which led to the Three-Strikes-You're-Out measure. Pacific News Service convened its YO! (Youth Outlook) writers, who have followed the case since its inception, the day before the verdict.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Unlike the celebratory cheers in many black neighborhoods that greeted the not guilty verdict in the O.J. Simpson trial, a group of young, mainly black writers harbor grim forebodings about the trial's aftermath. Far from seeing O.J.'s vindication as their own victory, these mainly poor African Americans believe it will only endanger them further.

"To be honest, I don't much care what happens to him," said Joe T., a 25-year-old who grew up in the same neighborhoods as O.J. "From the first what I worried about was a white riot if O.J. walked."

For weeks the media have been forecasting a repeat of the Rodney King riots in the event of a guilty verdict. But the 20 teenage and young adult writers who gathered to discuss the case in a news office the day before the verdict was announced were much more concerned about the backlash that followed another famous California case -- that of 12-year-old Polly Klaas. Klaas' 1993 abduction and murder in Petaluma, Ca. is widely viewed as having fueled voters' overwhelming endorsement of the three-strikes-you're-out initiative on the November 1994 polls. The three strikes law mandates life-time sentences for three-time felons.

"When Polly Klaas jumped off, the media hyped it the same way they're hyping the O.J. case - I never realized at the time where it would go. Now we're living with the consequences of three strikes. It changed everything," said Ri'Chard, who faces a warrant that could result in a first strike. Like many in the group, Ri'Chard predicts a similar backlash from non-black Californians convinced of O.J.'s guilt and points to pressures already building for a new initiative to overhaul jury trials by doing away with unanimous verdicts.

Although most members of the group had experienced the criminal justice system firsthand, few identified with O.J. as a defendant the same way they had to Rodney King. "Frankly, a lot of black brothers didn't give a f ... what happens," said Krea, mother of a four-month-old baby. "O.J. is no Rodney King."

Another young hip hop artist was even more blunt. "I don't know why everyone cares so much. We throw the word sellout all the time and O.J.'s about as close to it as you can get. Why do we do that for O.J. and not for the homeless black man on the street?"

Nor did the group's sentiments reflect national polls showing the vast majority of blacks firmly convinced of O.J.'s innocence. "I would have preferred a hung jury, said Serge, 18, " cause I myself don't know what to believe." Indeed, to Serge, the public's fascination with the O.J. trial had less to do with whether people thought he was guilty or innocent than with the fact that "they take entertainment in the next man's angst."

In contrast to their ambivalence about O.J., the group was unanimous that the one clear lesson of the trial had to do with cops.

"The only given is that there are cops like (Mark) Fuhrman out there on the streets," said Kevin, a 26-year-old writer. "A lot of people have been rapping on police brutality for years and now Fuhrman's proved it."

The problem the group felt is that as the media focus on the racial divisions in the wake of the trial, the larger point will be lost. "Regardless of the trial's outcome, Fuhrman'll be up there in Montana hanging out with the militia and we young blacks will be dealing with the rest of them out on the streets," Kevin concluded. "Where's the outcry for cleaning up the police?"

For Kevin, the verdict of innocent won't mark any great victory for blacks who "will still be out there dying."

"How many brothers are sitting in jail on trumped-up charges now that he's free -- that's the issue California can't deal with. Why are we building 13 new prisons and on whose say so."