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Voices

Rodney Coates in The Conversation: ‘I’m not black, I’m O.J.’

What O.J. Simpson’s life showed about transcending race and being trapped by it

Rodney Coates headshot and the Conversation logo
Voices

Rodney Coates in The Conversation: ‘I’m not black, I’m O.J.’

Rodney Coates, professor of Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, specializes in the history of race and racism in the U.S.

“I followed the case of O.J. Simpson as it unfolded and understood the jubilation that many Black people felt after his acquittal. I also understood that jubilation was more about the fairness of the criminal justice system than it ever was about O.J.,” Coates writes. 

Read his article “ ‘I’m not black, I’m O.J.’: What O.J. Simpson’s life showed about transcending race and being trapped by it” in The Conversation (April 12).