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Hochman: Lessons taught by 2015 Mizzou football protesters are amplified in 2020 America

It was raining. Or maybe it was just cold outside. Ian Simon can’t remember. But he remembers what happened inside.

Simon was a University of Missouri student and football player. And he’s African American. He walked into a room on campus, still wearing his hoodie over his head from outside.

“And I feel eyes on me,” Simon shared by phone this past week. “I could just feel tension. And I looked up, and I was the only black person in the room. Why is everybody staring at me? It wasn’t until one of the white students came up to me and dapped me up and said, ‘You’re Ian, right?