Given the present-day threats to American democracy and the deep political divisions ahead of the 2024 presidential election, Teachers College Press is publishing this federal report with a new introduction. The Kerner Commission Report was issued by the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders—a presidential commission established by President Lyndon B. Johnson to determine the causes of urban riots during the summer of 1967, and to provide suggestions for improving race relations. After 7 months of investigation, a groundbreaking report was released that sent shockwaves through the nation. Contrary to commonly held beliefs that largely blamed young Black men for the riots, the report pointed to a lack of economic opportunity, disastrous social service programs, white racism, police violence, and a biased national media. This federal report is being reissued to accompany the new book edited by Alan Curtis, Creating Justice in a Multiracial Democracy, which is a collection of essays by seminal scholars and activists on how the United States has (or has not) progressed since the Kerner Commission Report.
