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March 28, 2008
Barack Obama's March 18, 2008 speech, "A More Perfect Union," focused attention issues of race and class in America today. Forty years ago race and class was on the minds of Americans too — when The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders released its report on the urban riots of 1967. That report, more commonly known as the Kerner Report, with its stark conclusion that "Our nation is moving towards two societies — one white, one black — separate and unequal" — was a best-seller. It was also the source of great controversy and remains so today.
Referencing the Kerner Commission report has become rhetorical shorthand in some ways. For critics it suggests wasteful federal spending programs — for others, societal goals and potentials not yet met. In covering the 40th anniversary report USTODAY headlined its 40th anniversary coverage "Goals for Black America Not Met." The article raised some ire when quoting Robert Rector of Heritage Foundation: "Rector says the report ignores a major cause of poverty: single-parent homes. He says 70% of black children do not have a father in the home." That sentiment earned this response from Elliott Currie, a member of the Kerner Commission, 40th Anniversary Task Force: "The implication is that it's the heedless behavior of black men — rather than the strains of a blighted economy and a legacy of discrimination — that is responsible for the continuing crisis of poverty and racial disadvantage 40 years after the Kerner Commission."
Review the Commission's original findings and the subsequent progress reports below. Then weigh in on the state of America 40 years later on the Blog.
Bill Moyers talked with Fred Harris who now teaches politics at the University of New Mexico and is one of the last living members of the original Kerner Commission.
Fred Harris
Fred R. Harris was born in Walters, Oklahoma, a small town in the southwestern part of the state. In addition to practicing law in Lawton, Oklahoma, he served for eight years as a Democratic member of the Oklahoma State Senate. He served in the United States Senate from 1964 to 1973.
Harris was a member of the Select Committee on Small Business as well as the Government Operations, Public Works, and Finance committees. As chairman of the Subcommittee on Government Research, he introduced legislation to create a National Foundation for Social Sciences, designed to provide the social sciences with the visibility that the National Science Foundation gives to the natural and physical sciences. President Lyndon B. Johnson named him to the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Kerner Commission) in the summer of 1967. In 1969 Harris was elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
In 1971, Harris decided not to run for the Senate and instead announced he was seeking the Democratic nomination for president. Lack of money, however, forced him to bow out before the primaries. He again threw his name into the presidential ring in 1976 running a down-to-earth "new populist" campaign. Following weak showings in the New Hampshire and Massachusetts primaries, he abandoned his presidential quest, left Washington D.C., and moved to New Mexico. Harris currently serves as a professor of political science at the University of New Mexico.
Published on March 28, 2008.
Guest photo by Robin Holland
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Grace Lee Boggs
Shelby Steele
Barbara Ehrenreich
