The Kerner Report: (The James Madison Library in American Politics)

The Kerner Report is a powerful window into the roots of racism and inequality in the United States. Hailed by Martin Luther King Jr. as a "physician's warning of approaching death, with a prescription for life," this historic study was produced by a presidential commission established by Lyndon Johnson, chaired by former Illinois governor Otto Kerner, and provides a riveting account of the riots that shook 1960s America. The commission pointed to the polarization of American society, white racism, economic inopportunity, and other factors, arguing that only "a compassionate, massive, and sustained" effort could reverse the troubling reality of a racially divided, separate, and unequal society. Conservatives criticized the report as a justification of lawless violence while leftist radicals complained that Kerner didn't go far enough. But for most Americans, this report was an eye-opening account of what was wrong in race relations. Drawing together decades of scholarship showing the widespread and ingrained nature of racism, The Kerner Report provided an important set of arguments about what the nation needs to do to achieve racial justice, one that is familiar in today's climate. Presented here with an introduction by historian Julian Zelizer, The Kerner Report deserves renewed attention in America's continuing struggle to achieve true parity in race relations, income, employment, education, and other critical areas.

Table of Contents:
General Editor's Introduction, Sean Wilentz ix Introduction to the 2016 Edition, Julian E. Zelizer xiii Foreword xxxvii The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders xxxix Summary 1 Preface 31 PART I. WHAT HAPPENED? Chapter 1. Profiles of Disorder 37 Chapter 2. Patterns of Disorder 106 Chapter 3. Organized Activity 202 PART II. WHY DID IT HAPPEN? Chapter 4. The Basic Causes 207 Chapter 5. Rejection and Protest: An Historical Sketch 211 Chapter 6. The Formation of the Racial Ghettos 238 Chapter 7. Unemployment, Family Structure, and Social Disorganization 251 Chapter 8. Conditions of Life in the Racial Ghetto 266 Chapter 9. Comparing the Immigrant and Negro Experiences 278 PART III. WHAT CAN BE DONE? Chapter 10. The Community Response 285 Chapter 11. Police and the Community 301 Chapter 12. Control of Disorder 324 Chapter 13. The Administration of Justice under Emergency Conditions 338 Chapter 14. Damages: Repair and Compensation 359 Chapter 15. The News Media and the Disorders 364 Chapter 16. The Future of the Cities 390 Chapter 17. Recommendations for National Action 410 Conclusion 478 APPENDIXES Remarks of the President upon Issuing an Executive Order Establishing a National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, July 29, 1967 479 Biographical Materials on Commissioners 482 Index 487

About the Author :
The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders was established by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Its members included former Illinois governor Otto Kerner, New York City mayor John Lyndsay, U.S. senators Edward Brooke and Fred R. Harris, and NAACP executive director Roy Harris. Julian E. Zelizer is the Malcolm Stevenson Forbes Class of 1941 Professor of History and Public Affairs at Princeton University. His many books include The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and The Battle for the Great Society.

Review :
"The 2016 reissue of the report, along with historian Julian Zelizer's riveting introduction, should be required reading for all Americans interested in understanding the historical and policy roots of contemporary discussions of race."---Peniel Joseph, CNN "Some aspects of the report may resonate even more loudly today than they did in the late 1960s. For example, the commission’s repeated emphasis on the role of police brutality in alienating black citizens and sowing the seeds of urban discontent now assumes added significance, given the many images of unarmed black men whose deaths at the hands of the state have been seared into the national psyche. Indeed, some of the report’s assessments could—eerily and depressingly—have been written yesterday to describe America’s recent racial disturbances, in locales ranging from Ferguson, Missouri, to Baltimore, Maryland: 'Almost invariably the incident that ignites disorder arises from police action.'"---Justin Driver, The Atlantic