Last Witness: The Kerner Commission
Radio Diaries
Radio Diaries & Radiotopia
4.6 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 26 August 2021
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Decades before our current debate over critical race theory, the 1968 Kerner Report pointed the finger at structural racism for creating the conditions that had triggered a series of protests in Black communities across the United States in the summer of 1967.
Former Senator Fred Harris is the last surviving member of the Kerner Commission, a group appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the protests and author the report.
This story is a part of our Last Witness series, audio portraits of the last surviving witnesses to major historical events.
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| 0:00.0 | Radiotopia. |
| 0:04.0 | From PRX. |
| 0:05.0 | From PRX's Radiotopia, this is Radio Diaries. |
| 0:08.0 | I'm Joe Richmond. |
| 0:10.0 | Today, books about racism have become bestsellers. |
| 0:14.0 | Talking about race is what we do now, whether it's debating critical race theory or calling out white privilege. |
| 0:20.0 | But over five decades ago, there was a book that talked about American racism in a new way. |
| 0:26.1 | It sent shockwaves throughout the country, and it came from a very unlikely source, a government |
| 0:31.6 | commission. |
| 0:33.2 | Ray Did Iry's producer, Micah Hazel, has been working on this story, and she picks it up from here. |
| 0:38.0 | In the summer of 1967, dozens of American cities were rocked by protests against racial discrimination. |
| 0:45.0 | Many white Americans were eager to put the blame on other things. |
| 0:48.7 | Snipers, militants, everything but racism. |
| 0:52.3 | That changed when 11 senators came together and released the Kerner Report, |
| 0:57.1 | a deeply reported 1,400-page explanation of the causes of the protests. |
| 1:02.0 | It was an instant bestseller, selling over half a million copies in just three weeks, |
| 1:06.7 | getting shoutouts by celebrities like Marlon Brando, |
| 1:09.7 | and sparking debates on news programs throughout the country. |
| 1:13.4 | The book talked about white racism |
| 1:15.3 | at a time when that phrase was mostly used by black activists, |
| 1:18.7 | not white politicians. |
| 1:21.0 | Today's story is part of our ongoing series Last Witness. |
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