The Kerner Report: Policing and Race

Free Community Conversation

The panel will discuss the findings of the 1968 Kerner Report and why they resonate today.

Commissioned by President Lyndon Johnson to identify the causes the violent 1967 riots that killed dozens of people in cities across the country, the Kerner Commission concluded that systemic racism and lack of opportunity were the root causes of the violence. The report, which was ultimately discounted and ignored by the administration, recommended aggressive government spending and action to provide equal opportunities to African Americans.