Separate and Unequal: The Kerner Commission and the Unraveling of American Liberalism

by Steven M Gillon

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465096084
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	03/06/2018
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Steve M. Gillon is a scholar-in-residence for the History Channel and a professor of history at the University of Oklahoma. The author of several books on American history, including the New York Times bestelling America's Reluctant Prince, he lives in Miami Beach, Florida.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

Prologue "It Looks Like Berlin in 1945" 1

Chapter 1 "What Do They Want?" 15

Chapter 2 "Let Your Search Be Free" 43

Chapter 3 "I'll Take Out My Pocketknife and Cut Your Peter Off" 65

Chapter 4 "I Think We Should Avoid Overstatement" 91

Chapter 5 "A Straitjacket of Facts" 111

Chapter 6 "White Racism" 133

Chapter 7 "Can You Really Say This in a Government Report?" 151

Chapter 8 "That's Good and Tell Him I Appreciate That" 177

Chapter 9 "Lindsay Has Taken Effective Control of the Commission" 193

Chapter 10 "Two Societies" 227

Chapter 11 "I'd Be a Hypocrite" 247

Chapter 12 "The Most Courageous Government Report in the Last Decade" 267

Chapter 13 "The 60s and 70s Seem to Have Left Us Exhausted" 293

Acknowledgments 319

Notes 321

A Note on Sources 349

Index 357

Photos appear after page 192.

Editorial Reviews

02/12/2018
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. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"How did a government document that black radicals anticipated would be a whitewash end up instead denouncing 'white racism'? This improbable turn of events animates Steven M. Gillon's deft, incisive, and altogether absorbing history of the Kerner Commission, which he convincingly depicts as 'the last gasp of 1960s liberalism'...Meticulous."—Atlantic

"In Separate and Unequal, Steven M. Gillon...tells the fraught story of the commission, its recommendations and American race relations in the five decades since. His book is sophisticated, fair-minded-and a bracing corrective to complacency about racial reconciliation in America."—Wall Street Journal

"While solutions to poverty and discrimination are far from the national political agenda, the history of the Kerner Report reminds us that liberals and the left can still influence policy from the margins."—Nation

"Boldly written...The hard lesson being driven home by Gillon is that race relations and preservation of social decency are extraordinarily complex problems. They lack simple and immediate reconciliation. The conundrum has only grown since the Kerner Commission."—New York Journal of Books

"[A] compelling new history of the commission.... The Kerner Commission was right about race in America, but its very ambitions enabled the backlash against much of what it hoped to achieve."—Washington Post

"Racism remains a deeply troubling aspect of American history and culture, and Gillon's...excellent history of the 1967-68 National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, more popularly known as the Kerner Commission, provides historical insight on today's political climate...Exceptionally well-researched and timely."—Library Journal (starred review)

"Gillon's research about the Kerner Commission, bolstered by hours of interviews with the surviving members, is extremely well-documented and also offers the feel of being ripped from today's headlines.... Well-rendered popular American history that also speaks to present-day issues."—Kirkus Reviews

"Gillon's thought-provoking look into the Kerner Commission provides great insight into race issues of 1960s America."—Publishers Weekly

"Steven Gillon's timely book, Separate and Unequal, is a compelling reminder that America remains a racially divided country.... Every lawmaker and every fair-minded citizen should read Gillon's history."—Robert Dallek

"Separate and Unequal is an enormously impressive book. Steven Gillon tells a compellingly granular story about the so-called Kerner Commission's inner workings in 1967-1968.... And he employs his formidable story-telling skills to draw out the lasting historical consequences."—David M. Kennedy, Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History Emeritus, Stanford University

"Steven Gillon delivers a riveting read about a devastating challenge to the confident liberalism of the sixties.... This fascinating book illuminates both the 1960s and our own times."—Laura Kalman, professor of history, University of California, Santa Barbara

"Steven Gillon captures both the promise still viable in 1968 as well as the emergence of the 'post-civil rights'racial and political order that dominates American life today. It is a timely and essential book." —Patricia Sullivan, author of Lift Every Voice and professor of history, University of South Carolina

"In our toxic and dispiriting time, Separate and Unequal is an important reminder that social and racial progress is uneven and subject to setbacks like the one suffered after the release of the Kerner Report. But Steven Gillon's surprising story of dogged liberal politicians and journalists also shows that well-framed social arguments can change the debate forever." —Jonathan Alter, author of The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemiesspan

"When the African American freedom struggle moved north, the Great Society coalition fell apart. Fifty years on, Steven Gillon reconstructs that dramatic story with his trademark brio and deep research, chronicling both the immediate and the enduring political consequences."—Gareth Davies, Associate Professor of American History, Oxford University

From the Publisher

2017-12-11
An eerily timely account of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, better known as the Kerner Commission.In 1967, President Lyndon Johnson hurriedly appointed the high-profile commission in response to widespread race-based unrest around the country, especially in Detroit and Newark. Like many former presidents who announced advisory groups, Johnson sought to offer the appearance of concern without having to concretely address the unrest. The president hoped the commission would delay any report until after the 1968 presidential campaign. However, pushed by commission staff lawyers as well as members John Lindsay, the mayor of New York City, and Sen. Fred Harris, a detailed, scathing report about white degradation of black urban areas quickly became reality. Gillon (History/Univ. of Oklahoma; Pearl Harbor: FDR Leads the Nation into War, 2011, etc.), a resident historian for the History Channel, describes the many internal controversies of the commission using authoritative details and lively prose. He also goes beyond the inner workings to demonstrate how the commission helped countless Americans better understand the alarming realities of nationwide racism. The public awareness of the report emerged the same week as the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and the convergence of those two events meant an unexpectedly intense focus on racism throughout the country. With the reality of systemic racism finally recognized among prominent white Americans, it appeared that African-Americans could feel safer about speaking truth to power without sounding like overzealous radicals. Gillon's research about the Kerner Commission, bolstered by hours of interviews with the surviving members, is extremely well-documented and also offers the feel of being ripped from today's headlines. "The report's most important legacy," writes the author, "was its willingness to acknowledge the role of white racism in creating the conditions that sparked the riots….Unfortunately, despite all the progress that has been made over the past five decades, many of those same conditions still exist."Well-rendered popular American history that also speaks to present-day issues.

Kirkus Reviews