Separate and Unequal: Racism and Poverty 50 Years After the Kerner Report
Floor Speech
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Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, it is a great honor that I rise today to anchor the CBC Special Order. I would like to thank the CBC chairman, Chairman Richmond, for his leadership in this effort.
For the next 60 minutes, we have an opportunity to speak directly to the American people about issues of great importance to the Congressional Black Caucus and the millions of constituents we represent.
Tonight, Mr. Speaker, I want to speak about a topic that has affected this country and plagued us all. Over 50 years ago, in the middle of the Detroit riot, President Lyndon B. Johnson established the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, commonly known as the Kerner Commission. The goal of that Commission was to identify the underlying causes of the civil unrest in communities across the country.
This was a time of tremendous tension in our great Nation. Many Americans were confused about the root causes of the riots and the unsure path forward.
On February 29, 1968, following several field trips to troubled communities, the Commission released the Kerner Report, a 176-page report that examined cultural institutional racism, from segregated schools and housing discrimination to generational poverty and to limited economic opportunity.
The Commission largely held racism responsible for Black rioting and warned that our Nation is moving to two societies, one Black, one White--separate and unequal. The Commission called for bold policies to counter decades of political failure, such as investment in much-needed social services, housing, and education programs; and incentivizing diversity among law enforcement.
Sadly, President Johnson ignored the Kerner Report and rejected its recommendations. In the midst of that, we had the assassinations of several prominent Americans: President John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Dr. Martin Luther King.
Fifty years later, America has made some improvements, but African Americans continue to face some of the same issues discussed in the Kerner Report.
Since its release, Black American homeownership has been flat, and unemployment is still twice that of White Americans. The Black prison population has tripled here in America. It used to be two other countries, South Africa during the apartheid years and the former Soviet Union, had more people in prison. Now the United States has more people in prison than any nation in the world.
Black household wealth is less than one-fifth of the national average, and almost 33 percent of Black children are growing up in poverty.
Recently, Fred Harris, the last living member of the Kerner Commission, issued a new report highlighting the persistent issues plaguing the Black community and calling on major investments in education, workforce development, and a living wage. This comes in stark contrast to the severe cuts proposed by President Trump in the fiscal year 2019 budget.
Today, in fact, I attended a meeting for the CEO Council for Growth at Drexel University. The council's mission is to lead our region forward by convening decisionmakers, taking action, and doing the things necessary to strengthen our regional economy.
With poverty at 26 percent in my district, I am committed to working with the CEOs present at today's meeting and others who are using creativity and innovation to help reduce poverty, combat hunger, and spur economic growth.
I also attended a discussion at Temple University in Philadelphia. Although the recently passed budget was by no means perfect, I firmly believe that our leadership and our actions matter.
So it was great to hear firsthand from professors at Temple University today about how the recent jolt in NIH funding will allow them to keep their research on the rise. If we want to continue moving the needle on poverty reduction, we must make it our priority to invest in all of our neighborhoods.
We are in the business of doing no harm. As elected officials, we are here to help move our neighborhoods forward, not backward, and we must continue to urgently press for commonsense economic solutions for Americans most in need.
I stand before you today to tell you just as I have always done before, we must continue to make ideas matter. We must push for commonsense solutions to help move us past the conditions that led to the Kerner Report.
Mr. Speaker, I have my colleague from California (Ms. Lee) here, who is someone whom I have watched and observed. As a matter of fact, she is the chair leading the effort from the Democratic perspective on attacking this issue of poverty. She has been in the forefront of this particular issue, and her voice is heard throughout this entire Nation, the Honorable Barbara Lee from the 13th District.
Lee).
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Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I heard the gentlewoman say, obviously, 1968, and we are now in 2018. I yield to the gentlewoman to tell me what she thinks, in terms of the conditions in 1968, which were obviously the riots, to where we are in 2018. I know there has been some progress, but in terms of things moving back.
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Mr. EVANS. We have a little running conversation with the Eagles playing in the Super Bowl. He has turned out to be a very good friend in spite of that.
He has traveled this Nation and been very thoughtful in his comments and the things he has said. He wanted to really weigh in on this subject. He has been in the forefront of economic opportunity, poverty reduction, racism, and income equality. He has been in there.
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Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the gentleman a question. I hope people heard him. I want to ask a couple things.
The goal of the Commission was to identify the underlying causes of the civil unrest in communities across the country, and obviously a lot has happened in that 50 years. Technology, trade policies, tax policies, education policies, all those types of things have occurred, and it is clear knowing--obviously, in 1968, they didn't know anything about the internet, trade policies, tax policies.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the gentleman: Should there be another commission report? Should there be something that, in a sense, tries to update, in 2018, knowing the circumstances that we are in, and especially poverty has even grown more?
Mr. Speaker, I told you, in the district I am in, which has a lot of wealth with major universities, there is 26 percent poverty. In 1968, there was a riot in the city of Philadelphia.
Now, we don't have riots, you know, fortunately, anymore today in communities, but do we have a form of quiet riot that is occurring in these communities, not physically the way they were, but in some way there is still this growing gap? So we know what the goal was.
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Mr. EVANS. We know the goal was to identify the underlying causes of the civil unrest.
Mr. Speaker, what I hear Mr. Ellison saying with that 250 years, the first time I ever heard that described that way, I would ask him to talk to us a little bit about here it is 2018, 50 years later, with all these things that have happened.
I yield to the gentleman from Minnesota.
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Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments.
Mr. Speaker, we have another person, who is a neighbor of mine and has been a very good friend, from the great State of New Jersey. We have got that Benjamin Franklin, Walt Whitman Bridge connection. He is a very good friend.
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Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to, if I can, just follow up a little bit on the Voting Rights Act.
Obviously, that is the foundation of a democracy, and it is rather amazing to me that all of us in this Congress are elected by the people. I tell people the greatest title is citizen. It is not Congressman; it is not President; it is citizen.
So, Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the gentleman to speak a little bit about what has that impact been about the Voting Rights Act, as he sees it today, and the fact that, for some reason, this Congress doesn't seem to understand that we still need the Voting Rights Act in 2018.
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Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, how much time do I have remaining?
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Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, what others have heard this evening from the Congressional Black Caucus is sort of like a canary in the mine. The Kerner Report, when President Johnson established it 50 years ago, was an attempt to shine a light and to send a warning that we were two nations, one Black and one White. And for every Member who stood up here and spoke, they all talked about how proud they are, as Americans; and that we all recognize the beauty and the idea of America and what it has meant.
I come from the city of Philadelphia, where it all started. In those conversations, there is no question it started out as a very flawed document, where African Americans and women basically were left out of that discussion.
But as you think about what my good friend from Minnesota said as he laid out the historical aspect to where we are here in 2018 and the opportunity we have--because I do believe we have an opportunity, and I do believe it is not any more words on paper. It is not a report or anything. It is a question of what is in our hearts collectively.
I don't think this is a Democrat or Republican issue. I don't think this is a Black or White issue. I think this is an issue about inclusion and involvement. I think that when you go back to that report that talks about the underlying causes of the civil unrest in these communities across this country, I think that we all have an obligation to try to address those issues.
The issues are very fundamental. May you live in rural America, or urban America, or suburban America, you know, everybody needs quality healthcare. Everyone needs a job opportunity. Everyone needs a good, solid education. And those things we should not take lightly. All of those things, we all need.
So what we, as the Congressional Black Caucus, attempted to do is continue to raise the consciousness and to get people to understand that we still have a lot of work to do. This should not be taken lightly; that we all recognize that though, as Dr. King used to say, we have come over here on different boats, we are in the same boat now; and that boat is America; that boat is we are in a much more competitive world than in 1968. This is 2018. The world has radically changed.
The question is: Are we going to be in the forefront of the change, or are we going to be in the back of change?
I like to believe we should be in the forefront of change. I like to believe that we all understand, as a country, that it is in our collective interests to work together and to make a difference. I am not saying to you it will be easy. And it was not easy in 1968.
As I said, President Johnson was a Democrat, but he did not heed the report the way he should have probably heeded it. But it is no use talking about the past.
The question is: How do we deal with the future, and where do we go?
We should applaud him and others for at least having the discussion. We should not be fearful of discussion. We should all recognize that we have some challenges ahead for us in the 21st century.
Again, I will repeat myself. It will not be easy. It will take a lot of work, and it will take us confronting those issues that we face today. It is not easy, as we have debated the issue about healthcare or the issue about jobs or the issue about education. Everybody wants to work. Everybody wants a quality job and a quality opportunity. No one wants to sit on the sidelines.
So we have a chance today, in my view, to take advantage of the opportunities. I hope we will, Mr. Speaker. I believe that all members of the Congressional Black Caucus strongly feel that way. I thank the chairman of our caucus for initiating these efforts that we have been doing for this last year or so. I really appreciate that opportunity.
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