Simpson’s relationship with Nicole Brown, who was white, instantly sparked controversy among Black and white Americans. In 2016, Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote about how Simpson’s marriage to a white woman impacted the public’s perception of his racial identity.
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“Nicole Brown was proof to the world that Simpson, among the millions of black men caught in the maze of American racism, had risen above it,” Coates wrote. “What sort of abuse—verbal and physical—was going on behind the mansion gates, almost no one, black or white, guessed. Or much cared.”