NEW YORK — In 1967, riots erupted in cities throughout the United States, from Newark, New Jersey, to Detroit and Minneapolis in the Midwest, all two years after the Watts neighbourhood of Los Angeles exploded in violence. In response, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed a commission, headed by Illinois governor Otto Kerner, to investigate the causes and propose measures to address them. Fifty years ago, the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, more widely known as the Kerner Commission, issued its report, providing a stark account of the conditions in America that had led to the disorders.

The Kerner Commission described a country in which African-Americans faced systematic discrimination, suffered from inadequate education and housing, and lacked access to economic opportunities. For them, there was no American dream. The root cause was “the racial attitude and behaviour of white Americans towards black Americans. Race prejudice has shaped our history decisively; it now threatens to affect our future”.

I was part of a group convened by the Eisenhower Foundation to assess what progress had been made in the subsequent half-century. Sadly, the Kerner Commission report’s most famous line, “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white – separate and unequal,” still rings true.

The just-published book based on our efforts,” Healing Our Divided Society: Investing in America Fifty Years After the Kerner Report, edited by Fred Harris and Alan Curtis, makes for bleak reading. As I wrote in my chapter, “Some problematic areas identified in the Kerner Report have gotten better [participation in politics and government by black Americans — symbolised by the election of a black president], some have stayed the same [education and employment disparities], and some have gotten worse [wealth and income inequality].” Other chapters discuss one of the most disturbing aspects of America’s racial inequality: inequality in securing access to justice, reinforced by a system of mass incarceration largely targeted at African-Americans.

There is no doubt that the civil rights movement of a half-century ago made a difference. A variety of overt forms of discrimination were made illegal. Societal norms changed. But rooting out deep-seated and institutional racism has proven difficult. Worse, President Donald Trump has exploited this racism and fanned the flames of bigotry.

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