History repeats, and repeats, and repeats ...

The satirical newspaper, The Onion, once had a headline that read: “Historians politely remind nation to check what’s happened in past before making any big decisions.” On the 50th anniversary of the publication of the Kerner Commission report, it is instructive to review what our nation has refused to learn about racism since the civil unrest of the 1960’s.

President Lyndon Johnson convened the Kerner Commission, chaired by Illinois Gov. Otto Kerner, in July 1967, to understand the civil unrest that occurred that summer, in Detroit, Newark and neighboring communities; and to devise methods for preventing its recurrence.

After extensive investigation and study, the commission concluded that the primary reason for the unrest was “the racial attitude and behavior of white Americans toward black Americans.” The report declared that segregation and poverty had created a destructive environment for AfricanAmericans totally unknown to most whites, but “(w)hite institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it.”

The report is a comprehensive assessment of all aspects of society, from its institutions to societal attitudes, to media coverage of race. The commission observed that African-Americans rightfully felt frustration at pervasive discrimination, exclusion from local government, officials condoning white terrorism against nonviolent protest, official resistance to desegregation, and inadequate investment in their communities.

The report emphasized that poverty and racism were intertwined and both must be addressed to move our country forward.

The commission concluded that the nation faced three choices: continuing current policies of inadequate investment in African-American communities and a failure to integrate; investing more in AfricanAmerican communities and abandoning the goal of integration; or pursuing integration and enrichment of AfricanAmerican communities.

The commission rejected the first and second options. While enrichment of AfricanAmerican communities was a viable interim strategy, the commission declared that since power and resources reside among whites, only integration would create true equality.

Owing to the pervasiveness of racism and its effects, the Kerner Commission’s prescription for preventing future unrest was as comprehensive as its investigation; covering employment, education, public assistance programs and housing. The report observed that the recommended programs would require “unprecedented levels of funding and performance.” It concluded that “(t)here can be no higher priority for national action and no higher claim on the nation’s conscience.”

The commission declared that “education in a democratic society must equip children to develop their potential and to participate fully in American life.” Integration was the commission’s priority. However, recognizing that integration would not be immediate, the report also recommended methods to strengthen public education in African-American communities, including: early education, services for at-risk children, teacher training, class size reduction, and adult literacy; increased opportunities for higher education; improved vocational education; enlarged opportunities for parent and community participation in public education, including making schools community centers; and revising state funding formulas to ensure adequate and equitable funding.

President Johnson, unhappy with the projected cost and with the failure to credit his Great Society programs, ignored the report. Its recommendations lay unimplemented.

What progress have we made in 50 years?

Today, racism is as pervasive as it was in 1968. Not only are our schools more segregated than they were then, we have consistently refused to invest in schools serving predominantly children of color. Nor have our societal attitudes changed. Contrast the suspicion brave AfricanAmerican youth protesting gun violence as part of the Black Lives Matters movement have endured with the praise showered upon the equally brave youth protesting gun violence in response to the horrific school shooting in Parkland, Fla.

Education reformers and politicians claim the mantle of advancing civil rights, but their “reforms” run counter to the ideas and ideals of the Kerner Commission. Leaders resist full funding of segregated and impoverished schools, declare those schools “failures,” then disenfranchise parents and communities by them and replacing them with segregating charters run by unelected boards. Rather than provide disadvantaged students necessary supports, in the form of early education, compensatory education and the rich curricula and activities white schools have, they establish false metrics such as standardized tests that force a narrow focus on math and reading.

Testifying before the commission, sociologist Kenneth Clark described prior investigations as “a kind of Alice in Wonderland — with the same moving picture re-shown over and over again, the same analysis, the same recommendations, and the same inaction.”

After 50 years of inaction, and an increasingly divided nation, it is time to revive the Kerner Commission’s focus on integration, full participation and investment in our communities of color.