John V. Lindsay (1921–2000)

This is a Scholastic Books condensed version of the Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders - otherwise known as the Kerner Report - which was also published in its entirety after it's public release in February, 1968.

U.S. President Lyndon Johnson appointed the committee in 1967 after several high profile race riots (including the Watts and Newark Riots) to find out why these riots were happening, and what could be done to prevent them in the future. Johnson purposely show more chose moderate politicians to head the committee in the hopes that they would quickly deliver the verdict he was hoping for: that the sudden proliferation of riots was being orchestrated by communist sympathizers attempting to disrupt national tranquility, and that a sharp increase in police and military involvement was the ultimate solution.

Instead, the commission released a report that reflected a progressive and insightful investigation, the highlights of which are prominently displayed in this collection of "selections." Instead of revealing a communist conspiracy calling for the militarization of inner city police forces, the commission's report pointed to the country's history of racism and increased socioeconomic disparity along racial lines as some of the leading causes, and suggested radical remedies such as investing in education and outreach programs. Needless to say, Johnson rejected the commission's recommendations, and shortly after Martin Luther King was assassinated.

Selections From the Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders is a great reference and handy guide to understanding the extreme uphill battle the civil rights and social justice movements have had to face over the past half century. Much of what is disclosed and proposed in this abbreviated version of the report will seem like obvious facts and common sense to most, but it is an important illustration of how little has changed in the Republican Party's approach to such issues.

The author of the preface to Selections was committee member and then-Mayor of New York City John Lindsay, and a few years after Johnson's rejection of the committee's findings, he would switch from the Republican to Democratic Party. show less