The Kerner Report

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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 Ker

Reviews

"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 commissions 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 reports assessments couldeerily and depressinglyhave been written yesterday to describe Americas 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

Author Bio

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.