A must see, IMHO. I was particularly impressed with Newark Mayor Cory Booker. He's quite an inspiration.
You can catch the video here:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/index-flash.html The Kerner Commission — 40 Years Later
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."
40th Anniversy Kerner Report: One/fifth the wealth 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.
...
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/03282008/profile.htmlYou can post on the discussion here:
Race, Poverty, and the Inner City --- 40 Years Later
This week on the JOURNAL, Bill Moyers spoke with former Senator Fred Harris (D-OK), one of the original members of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, better known as the Kerner Commission.
Convened by President Lyndon Johnson in the wake of 1967’s riots among inner-city blacks in Detroit and dozens of other cities, the Kerner Commission sought to learn what had happened, why the riots had occurred, and what could be done to prevent similar events from happening again. The resulting (and immediately controversial) 1968 Kerner Report concluded that the riots emerged from severe poverty and limited opportunity in America’s urban ghettoes, for which the Report blamed institutional racism.
The report recommended a series of measures to try and change the situation, including using the government to create jobs, expanding affirmative action, and beefing up welfare and other social services. Regarding the Commission’s recommendations, Harris said:
“I think virtually everything (the Kerner Commission recommended) was right... one of the awfullest things that came out of the Reagan presidency and later was the feeling that government can’t do anything right and that everything it does is wrong. The truth is that virtually everything we tried worked. We just quit trying it. Or we didn’t try it hard enough. And that’s what we need to get back to.
We made progress on virtually every aspect of race and poverty for about a decade after the Kerner Commission report and then, particularly with the advent of the Reagan administration and so forth, that progress stopped. And we began to go backwards... When we cut out a lot of these social programs, or the money for them...
we don’t emphasize jobs and training and education and so forth as we had been doing, there are bad consequences from that... I think what you need to do is to help people up, give ‘em a hand up. And recognize the kind of terrible conditions that they’re grown up in.”
...More:
The Kerner Commission and the Media
Time magazine, 1967
Comment
March 28, 2008
In addition to tracing the 1967 civil disorders to root causes of poverty, inequality in income and education, crime and racial injustice, The Kerner Commission singled out the media for criticism. In the section, "The Communications Media, Ironically, Have Failed to Communicate" the report stated: "We have found a significant imbalance between what actually happened in our cities and what the newspaper, radio and television coverage of the riots told us happened," The Commission criticized the media's use of "scare" headlines, and exaggeration of the scope of the riots. (For example: At the height of the Detroit riot, some news reports of property damage put the figure in excess of $500 million. Subsequent investigation shows it to be $40 to $45 million.)
But the Commission also targeted deeper seated problems in the media:
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 Commission had several recommendations for the media:
News organizations must employ enough Negroes in positions of significant responsibility to establish an effective link to Negro actions and ideas and to meet legitimate employment expectations. Tokenism—the hiring of one Negro reporter, or even two or three—is no longer enough.
The news media must publish newspapers and produce programs that recognize the existence and activities of the Negro, both as a Negro and as part of the community. It would be a contribution of inestimable importance to race relations in the United States simply to treat ordinary news about Negroes as news of other groups is now treated.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/03282008/profile4.html Cory Booker
The Honorable Cory A. Booker, 38, is the Mayor of Newark, New Jersey. Mayor Booker's political career began in 1998, after serving as Staff Attorney for the Urban Justice Center and as a Program Coordinator of the Newark Youth Project. He rose to prominence by upsetting a four-term incumbent to become Newark's Central Ward Councilman.
Booker has been profiled in TIME magazine, ESQUIRE Magazine (naming him one of the country's 40 Best and Brightest in December 2002), NEW JERSEY MONTHLY (naming him as one of New Jersey's top 40 under 40) and BLACK ENTERPRISE in December 2005 (naming him to the Hot List, America's Most Powerful Players under 40). Booker's first unsuccessful run against Sharpe James, the 20-year incumbent was documented in STREET FIGHT, shown on POV on PBS.
In addition to being the Founder of Newark Now, Cory is a member of several boards including Integrity Inc's Board of Trustees, the Executive Committee of Yale Law School, Columbia University Teachers' College Board of Trustees, the Black Alliance for Educational Options, North Star Academy, and the International Longevity Center. This shining star reformer took his B. A. and M. A. from Stanford University, a B. A. in Modern History at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and completed his law degree at Yale University.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/03282008/profile2.htmlOn Edit: I see that babylonsister posted on this subject earlier and I missed her thread. Sorry for the dupe:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3074540&mesg_id=3074540
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