On Wednesday, Princeton University Press will re-issue the Kerner Report. The controversial 1968 document assembled by the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders offered a window into the roots of racism and inequality in the United States. The report provided a detailed account of the origins of a series of riots in American inner-cities in the mid-sixties and concluded that America was “moving towards two societies, one black, one white; separate and unequal.”

Lester Graham from Here & Now contributor Michigan Radio reports on why the Kerner Commission’s recommendations were ignored, and why, in an age of “Black Lives Matter” activism, the report still resonates today.

Read more on the Kerner Report via Michigan Radio.

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Support for the Detroit Journalism Cooperative comes from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Renaissance Journalism’s Michigan Reporting Initiative, and the Ford Foundation.

Guest

• Lester Graham, investigative reporter, Michigan Radio. He tweets @MichiganWatch.

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