50 Years After Kerner: Problems, Policies and Pathways Forward

press release: Pre-registration requested, but not required. Reception to follow.

Bradley Hardy of American University will discuss the Kerner Commission Report, formally the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, Monday, March 11 at the Discovery Building, 330 N. Orchard St. President Lyndon Johnson created the commission in 1967 after four summers of racial unrest and violence in several major cities. The basic conclusion of the report, published in 1968, was, "Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white-separate and unequal."

Hardy, an associate professor of public affairs, will provide a brief synopsis of the Kerner Commission Report and the context within which the commission conducted its work. He will trace the evolution of black neighborhoods from the late 1960s until today and will discuss the major policy debates that took place over this period. Relying on relatively new social science evidence, Hardy will close by considering current policies and programs that aim to improve economic well-being.

The 90-minute event will begin at 5 p.m. with background information from Alan Curtis, president and CEO of the Milton Eisenhower Foundation, which published Healing Our Divided Society: Investing in America Fifty Years After the Kerner Report in 2018. Curtis and Fred Harris (the only surviving member of the commission) co-authored the report.

Hardy, a nonresident senior fellow of economic studies at the Brookings Institution, and Curtis also will answer questions from students at the La Follette School of Public Affairs. UW-Madison's La Follette School and Institute for Research on Poverty are sponsoring the presentation.