“Together, with the values and vision of the Kerner Commission as helpful guides, we can—and we will—build the kind of society that those who came before us dreamed of.” —From the Foreword by Wes Moore, Governor of Maryland

American democracy is at an inflection point. Will we stride toward the 22nd century with evidence and will? Or will we lurch fearfully backwards, reinscribing the white supremist domination of the 19th century?

After hundreds of urban protests in the 1960s, the presidential Kerner Commission, composed mainly of privileged white men, concluded, “ It is time to make good the promise of American democracy to all citizens—urban and rural, white and Black, Spanish surname, American Indian and every minority group.” Today it still is time—to reduce racial injustice, economic inequality, and poverty.

Since the Kerner Commission, there has been little or no progress in some areas, and in other ways things have gotten worse. Yet the visionaries on these pages are passionate about how the problem is not lack of resources, nor a dearth of knowledge on the economic, education, youth investment, criminal justice, public health, and housing policies that work. Rather, the problem is that America still does not have the “new will” the Kerner Commission concluded was needed to scale up what works.

How to create “new will”? We need to identify those who are thwarting majoritarian preferences. Use strengthened voter rights and new messaging techniques to advance Dr. King’s economic justice movement based on both class and race. Weave the middle class into the coalition. Know that perfect unity is not necessary for effective collaboration. Better expose the exploitation of Americans by the privileged and the rigged system with its big myth of market fundamentalism. Make clear how that exploitation is smoke-screened by cultural deniers. Build moral language and moral fusion coalitions to revive the heart of democracy and advance a Third Reconstruction. Recover a moral commitment to long-term struggle. Balance outraged intensity with bridge-building persuasion. Don’t just preach to the choir—but recognize that the choir is where, to use John Lewis’ phrase, good trouble starts. Strengthen the role of nonprofit organizations. Base action on evidence and science, not on ideology, supposition, disinformation, and misinformation. Advocate for how universities can better engage their communities. And create a Harry Belafonte-like infrastructure of hope and empathy through the visual arts, monuments, and the performing arts.

Through this book, and through its companion volume—the republication of the original Kerner Report of 1968—we commit to enhancing the movement and healing our divided society.

Book Features:

Brings together public and private sector decision-makers, seminal thinkers, activists, advocates, students, and commonsense change-oriented scholars to address a broad range of economic, education, youth investment, criminal justice, public health, and housing issues requiring urgent action.
Cuts through campaign rhetoric to focus on evidence and science, not on ideology, supposition, disinformation, and misinformation.
Examines what we have learned since the Kerner Commission and updates trends in economic, education, police reform, youth development, public health, and housing policies.
Identifies what works and what doesn’t work.
Offers core lessons and takeaways for creating new political will to reduce racial and economic injustice, inequality, and poverty.

Contributors:

William Barber, Director , Center for Public Theology and Public Policy , Yale University , Co-Chair , The Poor People’s Campaign , MacArthur Fellow

Branville Bard, Jr., Vice President Public Safety & Chief of Police, Johns Hopkins University

Sindy M. Benavides, President and CEO, Latino Victory

Jared Bernstein, Chair , White House Council of Economic Advisors

Cornell William Brooks, Professor of the Practice of Public Leadership and Social Justice , Kennedy School of Government , Harvard University

LaTosha Brown, Co-Founder , Black Voters Matter Fund

Elliott Currie, Professor of Criminology, Law and Society , University of California, Irvine

Linda Darling-Hammond, President and CEO , Learning Policy Institute , Professor of Education Emeritus , Stanford University

Robert Faris, Senior Researcher , Berkman Center for Internet and Society , Harvard University Law School

Michael Feuer, Dean , School of Education and Human Development , George Washington University

Nazgol Ghandnoosh, Co-Director of Research, The Sentencing Project

Neil Gross, Professor of Sociology, Colby College

George Huynh, Executive Director, Vietnamese American Initiative for Development (VietAid)

John Jackson, President and CEO , Schott Foundation for Public Education

Judith LeBlanc, Executive Director, Native Organizers Alliance

Carlton Mackey, Co-Creator/Co-Director, Arts and Social Justice Fellows Program, Emory University

Justin Milner, Executive Vice President of Evidence and Evaluation. Arnold Ventures

Margaret Morton, Director , Program on Creativity and Free Expression , Ford Foundation

Janet Murguia, President and CEO , UnidosUS

Naomi Oreskes, Professor of the History of Science , Harvard University

Claudia Pena, Executive Director , For Freedoms

Lisa Rice, President and CEO , National Fair Housing Alliance

Loretta Ross, Professor for the Study of Women and Gender , Smith College , MacArthur Fellow

Richard Rothstein, Senior Fellow , Economic Policy Institute , Author , The Color of Law

Anat Shenker-Osorio, Founder , ASO Communications

Brooke Smiley, Lecturer, Department of Theater and Dance, University of California, Santa Barbara

Herbert C. Smitherman, Professor of Medicine, Wayne State University

Dorothy Stoneman, Founder , YouthBuild , MacArthur Fellow

Ray Suarez, Former Anchor, PBS News Hour, Host, World Affairs KQED-FM

Kim Taylor-Thompson, Professor of Clinical Law, New York University Law School

Lisa Richards Toney, President and CEO, Association of Performing Arts Professionals

Randi Weingarten, President and CEO, American Federation of Teachers

Michelle Williams, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health , Harvard University

Valerie Wilson, Director , Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy , Economic Policy Institute

Felicia Wong, President and CEO , Roosevelt Institute

Julian Zelizer, Professor of History and Public Affairs , Princeton University , CNN Analyst

Creating Justice in a Multiracial Democracy

Resources