The Federal Kerner Commission predicted in 1968 : Ferguson Emblematic of Growing Suburban Poverty in 2014

Nothing stopped the process of moving toward two societies, one Black , one White, so here were are in a separate and unequal society a system of apartheid in our major cities
asThe Federal Kerner Commission predicted....

Ferguson, Mo. Emblematic of Growing Suburban Povertyin 2014

 The Kerner report delivered an indictment of “white
society” for isolating and neglecting African Americans and urged
legislation to promote racial integration and to enrich slums—primarily
through the creation of jobs, job training programs, and decent housing...

 

 History is repeating itself, naw History doesn't repeat itself , but it rhymes sometimes:

“Our Nation Is Moving Toward Two Societies, One Black, One White—Separate and Unequal”: Excerpts from the Kerner Report

President Lyndon Johnson formed an 11-member National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders in July 1967 to explain the riots that plagued cities each summer since 1964 and to provide recommendations for the future. The Commission’s 1968 report, informally known as the Kerner Report, concluded that the nation was “moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal.” Unless conditions were remedied, the Commission warned, the country faced a “system of ’apartheid’” in its major cities. The Kerner report delivered an indictment of “white society” for isolating and neglecting African Americans and urged legislation to promote racial integration and to enrich slums—primarily through the creation of jobs, job training programs, and decent housing. President Johnson, however, rejected the recommendations. In April 1968, one month after the release of the Kerner report, rioting broke out in more than 100 cities following the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. In the following excerpts from the Kerner Report summary, the Commission analyzed patterns in the riots and offered explanations for the disturbances. In 1998, 30 years after the issuance of the Report, former Senator and Commission member Fred R. Harris co-authored a study that found the racial divide had grown in the ensuing years with inner-city unemployment at crisis levels. Opposing voices argued that the Commission’s prediction of separate societies had failed to materialize due to a marked increase in the number of African Americans living in suburbs.

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Ferguson, Mo. Emblematic of Growing Suburban Povertyin 2014http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/the-avenue/posts/2014/08/15-ferguson-suburban-poverty

Ferguson, Mo. Emblematic of Growing Suburban Poverty

• U.S. Poverty
• Inequality
• Missouri
• race relations
• demographic changes

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Nearly a week after the death of 18 year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., protests continue in the 21,000-person suburban community on St. Louis’ north side and around the nation.

Amid the social media and news coverage of the community’s response to the police shooting of the unarmed teenager, a picture of Ferguson and its history has emerged.

The New York Times and others have described the deep-seated racial tensions and inequalities that have long plagued the St. Louis region, as well as the dramatic demographic transformation of Ferguson from a largely white suburban enclave (it was 85 percent white as recently as 1980) to a predominantly black community (it was 67 percent black by 2008-2012).
But Ferguson has also been home to dramatic economic changes in recent years. The city’s unemployment rate rose from roughly 7 percent in 2000 to over 13 percent in 2010-12. For those residents who were employed, inflation-adjusted average earnings fell by one-third. The number of households using federal Housing Choice Vouchers climbed from roughly 300 in 2000 to more than 800 by the end of the decade.
Amid these changes, poverty skyrocketed. Between 2000 and 2010-2012, Ferguson’s poor population doubled. By the end of that period, roughly one in four residents lived below the federal poverty line ($23,492 for a family of four in 2012), and 44 percent fell below twice that level.
These changes affected neighborhoods throughout Ferguson. At the start of the 2000s, the five census tracts that fall within Ferguson’s border registered poverty rates ranging between 4 and 16 percent. However, by 2008-2012 almost all of Ferguson’s neighborhoods had poverty rates at or above the 20 percent threshold at which the negative effects of concentrated poverty begin to emerge. (One Ferguson tract had a poverty rate of 13.1 percent in 2008-2012, while the remaining tracts fell between 19.8 and 33.3 percent.)

Census Tract-Level Poverty Rates in St. Louis County, 2000

"Our Nation Is Moving Toward Two Societies, One Black, One White—Separate and Unequal”: Excerpts from the Kerner Report

• Charles Brown http://www.brookings.edu/.../08/15-ferguson-suburban-poverty
  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  Ferguson, Mo. Emblematic of Growing Suburban Poverty

  Nearly a week after the death of 18 year-old...

  brookings.edu

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  Charles Brown "The Commission’s 1968 report, informally known as the Kerner Report, concluded that the nation was “moving toward two societies, one black,
  one white—separate and unequal.” Unless conditions were remedied, the
  Commission warned, the country faced a “system of ’apartheid’” in its
  major cities. The Kerner report delivered an indictment of “white
  society” for isolating and neglecting African Americans and urged
  legislation to promote racial integration and to enrich slums—primarily
  through the creation of jobs, job training programs, and decent housing..."

  4 mins · Edited · Like
• 

  Charles Brown "
  
   https://www.jacobinmag.com/.../in-defense-of-the.../
  

  

  In Defense of the Ferguson Riots | Jacobin

  In Defense of the Ferguson Riots by Robert...

  jacobinmag.com