I am preparing a book-length anthology of critically thoughtful and creative manuscripts on the O.J. Simpson trial. It is important to note that this anthology is not intended to discuss in any serious length or depth the intricacies or technicalities of the criminal trial or of the potential strategies or tactics of the pending civil trial. Rather, I am interested in manuscripts that use the O.J. Simpson criminal trial or the pending civil trial as a starting point to discuss critically and analytically race, gender, domestic violence, social and legal history, popular culture, legal culture, social justice, legal justice, and/or sexual relations between different "racial" groups and the administration of justice.
Many areas exist in which you may consider writing. However, please do not limit yourself to the limits of my thinking. You may wish to write in the following areas:
Do our social taboos against interracial sexual relationship inform how we perceive the trial, the jury verdict, and the justice or injustice of its outcome?
In a community which is based on racial conscious social development, can a black defendant's money and privilege explain the trial outcome?
Did a racialized media (court or general) shape our perception of the trial in a manner that reflects deeper racial schisms in our social and political culture?
To what extent does Furman's racism reflect a broader social history of legal administration and police practices in which minorities or others have been unlawfully, unconstitutionally, or unethically prosecuted, punished, or killed (murder or lynch law justice)?
Can domestic violence, interracial relations, and white victims explain not only how the state presented its case but also why many people reacted negatively to O.J. Simpson before the defense put on its case in chief?
How does the politics of administering social justice in the country get expressed not only by the O.J. Simpson trial or but also by how we perceived the trial and its potential of "justice"?
Can we explain the reaction to the verdict by the different perception of the role of juries, the inherent fairness of the legal system, and the lynch law-like justice minorities (or poor whites) have received in America?
A reputable, academic publisher is interested in this project. I am looking for manuscripts that do not exceed 35 to 40 pages (but can be considerably shorter) with limited footnoting, and I am seeking not more than 35 contributors. Each manuscript should have double-spaced type (10 or 12 pitch) with standard margins (1 inch). Each manuscript must be accessible to a very broad market. Basically, please use an "easy text" approach.
If you wish to be considered as a contributor, please send inquiries to my e-mail address (rrobinson@law.howard.edu) along with an abstract of your paper idea (it does not have to be very formal, but it show give me some sense of your thesis and approach). Please do not call me. I will respond to your inquiries by e-mail, and then I will ask you to forward a letter of commitment with a vitae to my e-mail address. I must have delivery of the manuscript not later than November 18, 1996. Thank you in advance for your expressed interest and eventual cooperation.
Light, Love, & Peace,
Reggie
Reginald Leamon Robinson
Associate Professor of Law
Howard Law School
2900 Van Ness Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008
202.806.8059
rrobinson@law.howard.edu