Separate and Unequal
The Kerner Commission and the Unraveling of American Liberalism
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- ¥3,000
発行者による作品情報
From a New York Times bestselling author, the definitive history of the Kerner Commission, whose report on urban unrest reshaped American debates about race and inequality
In Separate and Unequal, New York Times bestselling historian Steven M. Gillon offers a revelatory new history of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders -- popularly known as the Kerner Commission. Convened by President Lyndon Johnson after riots in Newark and Detroit left dozens dead and thousands injured, the commission issued a report in 1968 that attributed the unrest to "white racism" and called for aggressive new programs to end discrimination and poverty. "Our nation is moving toward two societies," it warned, "one black, and one white -- separate and unequal."
Johnson refused to accept the Kerner Report, and as his political coalition unraveled, its proposals went nowhere. For the right, the report became a symbol of liberal excess, and for the left, one of opportunities lost. Separate and Unequal is essential for anyone seeking to understand the fraught politics of race in America.
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In this solid political history, Gillon, historian at the History Channel, provides the inside story of the Kerner Commission the group assembled by President Lyndon Johnson to present an unsettled nation with an authoritative report on the race riots of 1967. In an accessible narrative, Gillon provides a thorough examination of the commission: the selection of its members, how its work would be organized, Johnson's political interference, and the various debates among commissioners. Gillon also recounts the political motivations behind the commission's formation, describing how Johnson aimed to "kick the issue of urban violence down the road" and eventually obtain an endorsement for his Great Society programs. Remarkably, the final report bluntly and provocatively blamed white racism for the riots; it starkly detailed the wretched conditions of African-Americans in the country's poor urban areas substandard housing, unemployment, underfunded education, rampant police brutality and highlighted what Gillon explains was "the deep and profound sense of rejection and alienation felt by many African Americans." In "the last gasp of 1960s liberalism," the report, released in 1968, forcibly and urgently asserted the need for the federal government to take a leading role in alleviating such conditions, to a higher degree than previously considered. Gillon's thought-provoking look into the Kerner Commission provides great insight into race issues of 1960s America.
