The Kerner Commission Report was created during the late summer of 1967, by President Lyndon Johnson. President Johnson named the report after its chairman of the 11 member group, Governor of Illinois, Ohio Kerner. It’s no secret that the 60’s played a huge role in the Civil Rights movement, including the Kerner Commission Report. President Johnson submitted the report in the early months 1968, using the report to exploit the fact that “the United States is moving towards two societies-one black, one white, separate and unequal.” The report focused on investigating civil rights caused riots over the years, what could be done to prevent them and what caused them. The report stated that, “White racism is essentially responsible for the explosive mixture that has been accumulating in our Cities since the end of World War II.”
There were three themes expressed throughout the report that The Heritage Foundation has broken down. The first theme addressed “the condition of race relations and the condition of racial minorities in the United States.” The second theme was along the lines of “success or failure of the social policies advocated by the commission…”, and the third theme dealt with “alternatives to those policies that promised to improve the lives of our poorer citizens and revive our communities.” Investigation eventually showed that a significant amount of the riots stemmed from the very frustrated black communities throughout urban cities.
From my understandings, the frustration came from the lack of opportunities being provided for those who were under privileged, or in this case, a racial minority. The report also back lashed at those who were put in charge to fix problems such as housing and as the third theme expressed, reviving the communities. The solution suggested by the report, was that companies hire more minorities and create a more diverse environment to help eliminate racial segregation.
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image 2- http://www-tc.pbs.org/moyers/journal/03282008/images/profile_pic1.jpg