The Real Commission

Congress won’t commission an investigation into the Jan 6 white male riot at the Capitol. It’s not weird, it’s white supremacy. Just think about this: back in 1967, in the wake of anti-racist uprisings in Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles and Newark, when Black folk (and a few allies) were mad-as-hell for good reason, President Johnson did commission a congressional investigation. He wanted to know what happened, why it happened and what could be done to prevent it from happening again.

The ten white men and one white woman who wrote up the 426-page report dug to the roots of the so-called riots: lack of economic opportunity, failed social service programs, police brutality, white racism and the super-white perspective of the media. The report stated clearly: “White society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it.” White people wrote this! The Kerner Commission prescribed billions of tax dollars to be made available immediately—a massive government investment in jobs, education and housing for those Dr. King called “The Other America.”

I believe that Kerner is the key for understanding where we are at now. Because here’s the brutal irony: President Johnson ripped up the report. Even worse, in the past fifty years, both major political parties did the exact opposite of what the commission called for.

Since 1968, taxes have been massively cut for corporations and wealthy folks. Social programs that support the Other America have been cut too. Wages have been lowered to a minimum and jobs have been outsourced. Education budgets are still tied to property taxes so that schools in suburbia are far more resourced than those in The Other America.

Both major political parties declared a “war on drugs” on The Other America and poured billions of tax dollars into building new jails and prisons to house “criminals.” Police forces have been militarized and deputized to stop and frisk the Other America for just about any reason they want. The military budget has bulged. ICE and Border Patrol agents raid the residences and businesses of undocumented people and deport them.

This is how we got here, to a place where one-half of America has a semblance of privilege and The Other America can barely breathe. Dr. King got murdered and the white men in power moved on from the Kerner Commission as fast as they possibly could. Maybe we don’t need another commission after all. Maybe we could finally implement the recommendations of that one from 53 years ago.