The Kerner Commission
"Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal(RNACC Summary p.1)."
In July of 1967, then US President Lyndon Baines Johnson issued Executive Order 11365. This order was to establish “the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders” in order to investigate the causes of over 150 riots that had occurred that year with in the country(known as the “Long, hot summer of 1967”) and to provide recommendations that would prevent them from reoccurring(https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-upon-signing-order-establishing-the-national-advisory-commission-civil-disorders).
This commission would be known by another name, the Kerner Commission. After its chairman, then Illinois Governor Otto Kerner. This 11 member Presidential Commission would conduct a 7 month investigation into the civil unrest, composing a summary of their findings, with suggested remedies into a 400+ page report(summarized here: https://belonging.berkeley.edu/1968-kerner-commission-report).
At the time their report was considered “the touchstone for race relations(Michael Lipsky and David J. Olson (1977). Commission Politics: The Processing of Racial Crisis in America. Transaction Books. p. 137)”, along with being “one of the two seminal works” on race within the United States(Rick Loessberg and John Koskinen (September 2018). "Measuring the Distance: The Legacy of the Kerner Report". Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences. 4 (6): 115), while also a bestseller, outselling the report by the Warren Commission on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy(Julian E. Zelizer (2016). Introduction to the 2016 Edition, The Kerner Report. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. pp. xxxiv.).
As the report would combined a detailed description of how a number of the riots unfolded and ended with governmental data demonstrating the differences in living conditions between America's Black and White populations. It also included a chapter on African American history(RNACC Chp 5:95-112)and one on how the European immigrant experience differed from what Black Americans were experiencing(RNACC Chp.9:143-145), with a vast array of recommendations pertaining to policing, the justice system, property insurance, the media, employment, education, welfare, and housing(McLaughlin, Malcolm (May 23, 2021). "The story of America: the Kerner report, national leadership, and liberal renewal, 1967-1968". The Sixties. 14(1): 20–52).
The key point of the root of the civil unrest the report made was that it laid with the country’s history of anti-Black Racism and it’s continuation. That White America bore much of the responsibility for Black civil unrest due to the history of & ongoing methodologies of mistreatment(RNACC Summary p. 1).
With a short summary from page 5 of Chapter 4’s Summary: “Race prejudice has shaped our history decisively; it now threatens to affect our future. White racism is essentially responsible for the explosive mixture which has been accumulating in our cities since the end of World War II. Among the ingredients of this mixture are:
Pervasive discrimination and segregation in employment, education, and housing, which have resulted in the continuing exclusion of great numbers of Negroes from the benefits of economic progress.
Black in-migration and white exodus, which have produced the massive and growing concentrations of impoverished Negroes in our major cities, creating a growing crisis of deteriorating facilities and services and unmet human needs.
" The black ghettos, where segregation and poverty converge on the young to destroy opportunity and enforce failure.
Crime, drug addiction, dependency on welfare, and bitterness and resentment against society in general and white society
in particular are the result.”
Resulting in their emphasizing the need for addressing the key points of American society to remedy the situation or risk it worsening. Those points being improving or providing quality Employment, Education, the Welfare System/Social Safety net, Housing, Policing(availability and accountability, along with Emergency Services)& Community development and support(https://belonging.berkeley.edu/key-kerner-commission-recommendations).
They noted that many of these short comings have their origins at the federal, state & local levels(RNACC Chps 2:4, 5,6,&7). However one of the commission’s sharpest criticisms was reserved for the News Media.
The commission’s report criticisms of the Media’s coverage of the civil unrest were noted in being amongst the sharpest. Centered around the Press’s failure in accurately reporting the situation’s scale and character. Resulting in an exaggeration of the events and importantly its failure in adequately reporting on the causes & consequences of the unrest with its ties to underlaying problems with the country’s race relations(RNACC Chp.15:201).
That their portrayal of the situation was primarily through a lens that nearly ignored what Black Americans were experiencing. Or as presented on page 203 of the report: “Our second and fundamental criticism is that the news media have failed to analyze and report adequately on racial problems in the United States and, as a related matter, to meet the Negro's legitimate expectations in journalism. By and large, news organizations have failed to communicate to both their black and white audiences a sense of the problems America faces and the sources of potential solutions. The media report and write from the standpoint of a white man's world. The ills of the ghetto, the dificulties of life there, the Negro's burning sense of grievance, are seldom conveyed. Slights and indignities are part of the Negro's daily life, and many of them come from what he now calls the "white press" —a press that repeatedly, if unconsciously, reflects the biases, the paternalism, the indifference of white America. This may be understandable, but it is not excusable in an institution that has the mission to inform and educate the whole of our society.”
As the Commission highlighted this lack of input by Black Americans affected by the unrest by providing presenting their survey of those they had questioned. “Negro residents in several cities surveyed cited as specific examples of media unfairness what they considered the failure of the media :
" To report the many examples of Negroes helping law enforcement officers and assisting in the treatment of the wounded during disorders.
" To report adequately about false arrests.
" To report instances of excessive force by the National Guard.
To explore and interpret the background conditions leading to disturbances.
"To expose, except in Detroit, what they regarded as instances of police brutality
• To report on white vigilante groups which allegedly came into some disorder areas and molested innocent Negro residents(RNACC Chp. 15, p.207)”
Sadly there’s still several instances of this still being a problem in the 21st century, even though the Kerner Commission did present an important recommendation for the Press in its 1968 report.
“These failings of the media must be corrected and the improvement must come from within the media. A society that values and relies on a free press as intensely as ours is entitled to demand in return responsibility from the press and conscientious attention by the press to its own deficiencies. The Commission has seen evidence that many of those who supervise, edit, and report for the news media are becoming increasingly aware of and concerned about their performance in this field. With that concern, and with more experience, will come more sophisticated and responsible coverage. But much more must be done, and it must be done soon(RNACC Chp. 15, p.203).”
Seems like there are still many in journalism(& in many other areas)that need to read this report & consider its words.
Until next time.
As always here are the citations/sources for further information & reading:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerner_Commission “Kerner Commission”
https://www.britannica.com/story/the-riots-of-the-long-hot-summer “The Riots of the Long, Hot Summer”
https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/national-advisory-commission-civil-disorders-report “NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMISSION ON CIVIL DISORDERS, REPORT”
https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/kerner-commission “The Kerner Commission”
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/1968-kerner-commission-got-it-right-nobody-listened-180968318/ “The 1968 Kerner Commission Got It Right, But Nobody Listened. Released 50 years ago, the infamous report found that poverty and institutional racism were driving inner-city violence”
https://policing.umhistorylabs.lsa.umich.edu/s/detroitunderfire/page/kerner-commission “Kerner Commission”
https://belonging.berkeley.edu/1968-kerner-commission-report “1968 Kerner Commission Report”
https://belonging.berkeley.edu/key-kerner-commission-recommendations “Key Kerner Commission Recommendations”
https://belonging.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/kerner_commission_full_report.pdf?file=1&force=1 “National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders” The full report. RNACC Chps 2:4, 5,6,&7, RNACC Chp 5:95-112, RNACC Summary p.1, 5 RNACC Chp.9:143-145, RNACC Chp. 15, p.203, 207
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-upon-signing-order-establishing-the-national-advisory-commission-civil-disorders “Remarks Upon Signing Order Establishing the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders.”
Michael Lipsky and David J. Olson (1977). Commission Politics: The Processing of Racial Crisis in America. Transaction Books. p. 137.
Rick Loessberg and John Koskinen (September 2018). "Measuring the Distance: The Legacy of the Kerner Report". Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences. 4 (6): 115.
Julian E. Zelizer (2016). Introduction to the 2016 Edition, The Kerner Report. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. pp. xxxiv.
McLaughlin, Malcolm (May 23, 2021). "The story of America: the Kerner report, national leadership, and liberal renewal, 1967-1968". The Sixties. 14(1): 20–52.
For those who enjoy audio/visuals: https://www.pbs.org/video/the-riot-report-cuh1ik/ “The Riot Report”