Johnnie Cochran, the lawyer who successfully defended former football star O.J. Simpson in his double murder trial, Saturday called for better opportunities for Britain's black youths.

Speaking at a one-day conference organized by the Society of Black Lawyers, Cochran said Britain could not flourish if people were being discriminated against."Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice anywhere," he said, quoting slain American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

"So if there is injustice in the U.K., if there is injustice in the United States, it affects all of us because none of us is free until all of us are free," he said.

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Cochran, who won an acquittal for Simpson against charges of murdering his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, admitted race played a part in the case. He said the case would not have had the impact it did if Nicole had been black.

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