Decades After Kerner Study, Problems Appear to Be Worse

Even before the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, even beforeChicago and other cities erupted in flames at the news, black peoplehad rebelled against the symbols of white authority in city aftercity.

Newark, Detroit, Tampa, and Atlanta were just some of thecommunities left reeling from deadly uprisings in 1967. That longhot summer prompted President Lyndon B. Johnson to appoint an11-member panel to look into the origins of the outbursts.

The so-called Kerner Commission, chaired by then Illinois Gov.Otto Kerner, called for sweeping changes in both social behavior andthe conduct of major American institutions to avoid a repeat of theupheavals.

Today, however, experts agree that many of the conditionshighlighted by the commission have actually deteriorated.

"There has been a massive turn away from a caring society thathas left a tremendous underclass," said Leon Finney, executivedirector of the Woodlawn Organization. "What we have seen is anotherera ushered in of high unemployment, infant mortality, gangs, and theabsence of jobs and opportunity."

These are some of the commission's recommendations, compared tothe current reality in Chicago: Education: The commission called for a revision of state aidformulas to funnel more funds to districts with a high proportion ofdisadvantaged school-age children. It also recommended a substantialhike in federal funding.

Reality: During the last decade, state funding of school costshas dropped from 50 percent to 33 percent. An estimated shortfall of$400 million is predicted for next year, dashing hopes of increasededucation programs. Police: The commission called on police agencies to intensifyrecruitment of black officers and increase the number of minoritysupervisors. It also called for a revision of promotion policies toeliminate bias and suggested that well-trained veterans be assignedto patrol ghetto areas to better control incidents before they became major confrontations.

Reality: Blacks account for 25 percent of the city's policeforce but comprise 39 percent of the population. Although there havebeen two black police superintendents, blacks have experienceddifficulty moving beyond the rank of patrol officer. Only 2 percentof 81 captains are black, and the detective ranks remainoverwhelmingly white. The department also has had difficultygetting veteran officers to volunteer for a pilot community policingprogram. Employment: The commission urged immediate action tocreate 2 million new jobs to absorb the hard-core unemployed. Italso called for an end to artificial barriers to hiring, such asarrest records, the lack of a high school diploma or other subtleforms of discrimination.

Reality: The unemployment rate for black males is four timesthat for white males, similar to 1968. Job training programs werecut back during the Reagan and Bush years and affirmative actionprograms came under attack. Media: The panel said the news media had long ignored the blackcommunity and needed to begin not only covering it as a group in andof itself but also as a part of the society as a whole. Thecommission also called on newspapers and broadcasters to recruit moreblacks as well as promote them to positions of authority.

Reality: Blacks are still underrepresented in media,particularly in supervisory roles. Critics say both electronic andprint media do not adequately cover minority communities.