| Kerner Plus 40: |
An assessment of the nation's response to the 1968 report
of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders |
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Kerner Commission 40th Anniversary - Introduction
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the landmark report that was issued by the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. This report, which has come to be known as the "Kerner Commission Report," assessed the causes of the dozens of race riots that occurred in this country during the 1960s. The report concluded that there was a link between these riots and the media's failure to report fully on the concerns of blacks. It said "the journalistic profession has been shockingly backward in seeking out, hiring, training, and promoting Negroes." The report went on to say that "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." But the Commission's most chilling words came in its assessment of the state of race relations in the United States as the 1960s drew to a close. "Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white--separate and unequal" it warned. The urban eruptions of the 1960s have left some festering wounds, which if not salved, will do irreparable damage to urban America. "The future of our cities is neither something which will just happen nor something which will be imposed upon us by an inevitable destiny," the Commission said. "That future will be shaped to an important degree by choices we make." The Annenberg School for Communication and the Center for Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Institute for Advanced Journalism Studies (IFAJS) at North Carolina A&T State University have undertaken a joint project to determine how this nation has responded to the Kerner Commission's recommendations. We have assembled teams of journalists and academics to conduct empirical research, investigative reporting, and hold roundtable discussions to determine what has happened in some of the cities hardest hit by race riots in the 1960s. Our findings will be made public during a week-long symposium that will be split between the campuses of the University of Pennsylvania and North Carolina A&T State University. The first part of the symposium (February 25-26, 2008), which will be held at NCAT, will examine how media organizations have responded to the Kerner Commission's call for "a painful process of readjustment" in its employment of blacks and its coverage of the black community. We have made various contacts with well known experts on issues of race in the media to participate in this first part of the symposium. The second part of the symposium (February 28-29, 2008), which will be convened at the University of Pennsylvania, will focus on the nation's response to Kerner's warning that this nation was "moving toward two societies, one black, one white--separate and unequal." President Bill Clinton will give the Opening Address for this phase of the symposium. Research >> |
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