Race and Justice Rodney King and O. J. Simpson in a House Divided

by Gibbs, Jewelle Taylor

• ISBN13: 9780787902643
• ISBN10: 0787902640
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-09-30
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass

Summary

Puts the Rodney King and O. J. Simpson trials under the microscope Reviews the turbulent events of the Rodney King and O. J. Simpson trials from a social and political framework of race relations and police misconduct. This thought-provoking book shows that the issue of race was at the very heart of both of these emotionally charged cases. Psychologist and scholar Jewelle Taylor Gibbs shows how King and Simpson have been transformed by their trials into symbols of the different worlds inhabited by blacks and whites in America. Gibbs's compelling analysis of the issues that permeated these trials will challenge even the most cynical observer to rethink any previously held assumptions about race and the criminal justice system.

Author Biography

JEWELLE TAYLOR GIBBS a clinical psychologist and consultant, is Zellerbach Family Fund professor of social policy at the School of Social Welfare, University of California at Berkeley. She is the coauthor of Children of Color (Jossey-Bass, 1989) and the editor of Young, Black, and Male in America: An Endangered Species (Greenwood Press, 1988).

Table of Contents

Foreword

Part One: Rodney King

1. Los Angeles: from Watts to South Central

2. Rodney King: Gentle Giant or Gorilla in the Mist?

3. The Color of Justice, I: The Trial, the Victim, the Verdict

4. Days of Rage: No Justice, No Peace

5. Two Commissions and Three Trials: Community Conflict and Concepts of Justice

Part Two: O. J. Simpson

6. O. J. Simpson: The Man, the Myth, the Marriage

7. The Crime, the Chase, the Arrest

8. The People V. O.J. Simpson: The Trial Begins

9. Ambushing the Prosecution: Playing the Race Card

10. The Color of Justice, II: The Verdict, the Response, the Aftermath

Part Three: Race and Justice

11. ?Bad Blood?: Conspiracy Theories and the Black Community

12. A House Divided: Healing the Wound, Restoring the Dream

AppAndix A: Research Note

AppAndix B: People Interviewed