 Hi everyone, good evening. Thank you for coming. My name is Angela Evans, and I'm the Dean of the LBJ School Public Affairs right next door and on behalf of the entire LBJ community the LBJ presidential library and the LBJ foundation It's my distinct privilege to open up this program this evening To celebrate the 50th anniversary. It's a key milestone. You know, you don't hit 50 very often And this very very important report And this report of course had its origins in the 1967 race riots I want to express a special Appreciation to dr. Eric Tang. He was just there. He is over here. Raise your hand and also He's at the UT social justice Institute. He has elevated this he got it going He was the energy behind it and got a lot of people together and he's the reason why we're having this this evening. I Also want to have a special thank you a big shout out to the division of diversity and community engagement here at UT the Moody College of Communication School of Journalism as well as radio and television The Department of African and African diaspora studies and the Center for race and democracy our own Piniel Joseph The Kerner Commission report came out at a time of reckoning for the country The civil rights movement had lifted the promise of African-American equality and forced white America To come to terms with this toxic racial history in the summer of 1967 Race riots erupted in more than a hundred cities across the country in Detroit 43 people died in what was one of the most violent and destructive riots in US history It was this summer of turmoil that led President Lyndon Johnson to assemble the National Advisory Commission on civil disorders Which came to be known by its chair Illinois Governor Otto Kerner The goal of the Commission was to answer three questions What happened? Why did it happen and how can we prevent it from happening again? So three simple questions very complicated Charge upon establishing the Commission President Lyndon Johnson said to its members and I quote let your search be free Let it be untrammeled by what has been called the conventional wisdom And as best you can find the truth the whole truth in your report The Commission heeded the president's advice famously concluding and I quote that our nation is moving toward two societies One black one white separate and unequal The Kerner Commission laid bare some uncomfortable truths Truths that many Americans were unprepared or unwilling to face and For reasons that are still widely debated its recommendations went largely unheeded and we're gonna hear about some of this this evening Well meaning people disagree and we continue to disagree and that's fine And but here they're disagreeing on whether or not the Commission's policy prescriptions were the right ones Well, if we keep waiting for a perfect right thing, we're never gonna get anywhere So here you have people stepping up looking at something extremely complicated say let's start here We can start the discussion here and some people say that was a failure. I don't see it as a failure Just a month before the report was released North Vietnamese had launched the Tet offensive Debate over the war left little room in the political discourse for anything else is we always see wars do kind of like Take the air out of the room, but in this case In things things we talk at school. You can always multitask when you've got really important issues So I'm not so sure I buy into this idea I'll defer discussion of these important matters to the panel But what I believe is indisputable is that the issues identified by the Kerner Commission Fifty years ago we may powerfully relevant today We were talking earlier and if you take names out and you take names out, you know dates out You can be reading about this today The forces of the Commission deemed responsible for the discord of 1967 it called it the explosive mixture They're still present in 2018. We have discrimination. We have segregation. We have poverty We have police brutality. We have frustrated hopes and feelings of powerlessness So some of these very things that are in the ether in our country are still here now 50 years later One of the Commission's warnings seems particularly prescient quote To pursue our present course will involve the continuing polarization of the American community and Ultimately the destruction of basic democratic values This did not mince words in In some ways we are confronting the same results of that unresolved polarization now Racial tensions persist. They remind us that America's racial history is anything but finished in This way President Johnson was also prescient when he said to the Commission quote The work that you do ought to help guide us not just this summer But for many summers to come and for many years to come 50 years after its creation we have much to learn from the Kerner Commission and I'm pleased to be able to revisit this rare moment of national reflection with such an exceptional group of panelists and I'm so pleased, you know that senator Fred Harris is here I can't imagine what he really feels like can you imagine being on this Commission and then coming 50 years later and Revisiting it with people I mean how often do you get to do that? How often do we have a chance to really be with somebody who has that longevity persistence in this area? But I've taken enough time I think we need to get moving on this why I'd like to introduce dr. Peniel Joseph. He's the founding director of the Center of the study of race and democracy Which is which lives in the lbj school and Peniel's been with us a short time. He's made a big impact on the university He's cultivated numerous alliances and brought so many important thinkers and doers here to the campus So I'm really pleased to turn this over to dr. Peniel Joseph Okay, I'm gonna be quick. I have the honor of introducing the three panelists Our first is of course senator Fred Harris senator Harris is the Former senator from Oklahoma is the only living member of the Kerner Commission and Harris taught political science for 40 years at the University of New Mexico his legacy of education continues through the University of New Mexico's Fred Harris congressional internship and senator senator Harris is really the person who Gave president Johnson the idea of even having this commission and president Johnson put Senator Harris on that commission and we're gonna hear all about that as well We have the honorable Julian Castro who's currently visiting distinguished professor here at the lbj school We're not here at the library, but at the lbj school next door He's dedicated his career to public service in 2001 Castro was the youngest council member to be elected to the San Antonio City Council He continued to serve as the mayor of San Antonio from 2009 to 2014 Heading the San Antonio 2020 initiative to create a far-reaching blueprint for San Antonio's future Castro served as the housing and urban development secretary under the Obama administration from 2014 to 2017 and Currently as I mentioned before he's the Dean's Distinguished fellow and the fellow of the devia chair in international trade policy at the lbj school of public affairs And we also have dr. Kathleen McElroy who currently serves as associate director for the school of journalism and fellow of the s Griffin singer endowed professorship in journalism Starting this summer dr. McElroy will assume the position of director of school of journalism Congratulations, that's great She received her PhD from the school of journalism here at UT After nearly 30 years as a prefer professional journalist Including at the New York Times where she held various management positions including associate managing editor Dining editor deputy sports editor and deputy editor of the website while earning her doctorate She was a Harrington graduate fellow and received awards for teaching and research Her research interests include racial discourse collective memory sports media and obituaries Very quickly briefly This is the 50th anniversary of the publication of this report We are at a really important historical juncture in america The kerner commission provided us a blueprint for the radical transformation of american democracy The report really grows out of the social movements of the post-war period and these are social movements For small d democracy. Sometimes we call them civil rights. Sometimes we call them feminists Sometimes we call them lgbtq labor movements, but what all these movements wanted Was human rights for all both in the united states and globally What's so important about the kerner commission is that the kerner commission took steps for proactive political social and cultural transformation These were public servants who spoke truth to power Even at the cost of their own careers and reputations Because it was the right thing to do and when we think about this report 50 years later This report talks about education. It talks about healthcare. It talks about jobs It talks about prisons and the criminal justice system It talks about all these democratic institutions in american civil society and the way in which those institutions Weren't working on behalf of one group of americans, right in this case It's african americans, but this can be extended to Latinos it can be extended to native americans. It can be extended to poor whites It can be extended to a broad coalition of americans The reason i feel optimistic on a day like this and um senator harris and dr. Alan curtis have a great book Called healing our divided society Investigating the kerner commission 50 years later that just came out The reason why i feel so optimistic in spite of mass incarceration In spite of the need for the me too movement in spite of what's going on with immigration and the dreamers is that The kerner report provides a snapshot for a different period in time that connects with our current social political racial economic crises And that snapshot shows that there are always groups of people in this case both public servants elected officials civil rights activists who are willing to organize and speak truth to power To try to rectify inequalities what's so important about this is that even though we have tremendous challenges What the kerner commission decided was that we could actually win those challenges But we needed to have an all-out effort Which which would echo the new deal which would echo the run run up to the second world war to defeat and eradicate these inequalities So this report is optimistic. It's brutally honest in its assessment of inequality It's brutally honest in its assessment of residential segregation It's brutally honest in its assessment of the relationship between criminal justice and poor black communities But it was also optimistic because it said we didn't need to give up We could actually achieve what James Baldwin called our country and achieve our nation What Baldwin meant by that was a nation in a country that had eradicated the last vestiges of racial slavery gender discrimination and any and all kinds of inequalities We can do it. That's what makes us Americans when we talk about things like the the the national anthem and confederate monuments We're we're critiquing confederate monuments because they're un-american This country is based on Liberty and freedom and justice for all people Irrespective of their backgrounds the reason why martin luther king jr. Talked about the great wells of democracy From a jail cell in birmingham is because he believed in democracy He had seen people bleed and die for democracy not just overseas but domestically So the kerner report is a shining example of the willingness of americans to believe in the american dream Not just to imagine it but to make it real in our own lifetimes 50 years ago senator Fred harris and those on the commission were willing to speak truth to power at great cost and 50 years later We revisit this time period because we can do no less in our own time period For our children for our grandchildren for humanity and society So we should feel optimistic even though we confront extraordinary challenges But the the optimism is rooted in the fact that this country has always faced extraordinary challenges And each time the country pulls itself together. It can actually eliminate and overcome those challenges That's what makes this nation great, but we are only true To our identity as liberty sure is guardian If we are willing to be honest and outspoken and courageous and faithful to the precepts of american democracy We hold these truths to be self-evident that all people are created equal and so In closing What is so important about the kerner commission is the way in which it sets up Solutions proactive solutions for the crises that we face not just then but in our own lifetimes We can eradicate mass incarceration. We can end child poverty. We can end public school segregation We can transform this society if we are willing to speak truth to power and organize and believe in the dream Of not just our founders, but those who have become principal architects of american democracy By being social movement leaders by being feminist leaders by being civil rights leaders by being environmental leaders by being Public school leaders by being public servants We can transform the way in which our country works and operates for the least of these That's why dr. Martin Luther king jr. Said that we could all be great because we could all serve to try to transform this society On behalf of human rights liberty equality and freedom for all. Thank you just say Dr. Eric Tang my friend. I forgot director of the social justice institute who really helped us organize all of this Is going to be the moderator for this panel. Well, that's this second best introduction i've ever had The best introduction i ever had was when the guy was supposed to introduce me didn't show up and i had to do it myself Margaret and i my wife margaret elliston and i Have we been running around all over the country this 50th anniversary we were in new york glass monday and then in dc and on tuesday and and baltimore wednesday and Then we went to chicago on thursday now. We're here He gets to be kind of a blur, but one thing that That really strikes me going around the country like this Is caught a lot of good people there are people like dr. joseph And who are really doing things There's a lot of good things going on in this country I uh I'm really honored to be here. I spent I've had breakfast this morning with My great old friend jim hightower anybody didn't even know jim jim was my campaign manager when i ran for president and the fortworth star telegram the late fortworth star telegram One time asked him is it true that you were fred harris's campaign manager when he ran for president and And hightower said that's true. He said i made fred harris what he is today a college professor I Was one time margaret and i were living in london and i was teaching there and about midway through the semester to illustrate some point i said I thought everybody knew then my background I said when i ran for president And there was a young woman and actually she was from iowa She was in the front row and she always jumped out of her seat. She said You ran for president And i said yes i did. She said president of what? I said president of the united states. She said president of the united states I said yes, and i should tell you i was not elected She wrote that down. Oh my god, this made me on the fire on the final And then i spent some time i've never been to the lbj library So we've spent some time on that and it brought back a lot of good memories All the good things we were doing Vietnam was just a small little thing off over here. We weren't thinking much about And of course the riots had not occurred yet And look at all those those things we did My goodness more legislation president johnson got passed Really good stuff federal aid education the elementary secondary education act The voting rights act of 65 the civil rights act of 1964 We made a lot of progress and and It was my honor to serve During a good many of those years with president johnson So i want to thank eric tang and others here for inviting me and director evans i'm really impressed with what's going on here at the lbj school public affairs and I just want to i've been asked to speak about the origins and the operations of the kerner commission Of which i was a member of course and And as was said the last surviving member high tower the other day Some newspaper article said i was the last surviving member. He sent me he sent me an email and said You ought to put that on your tombstone the last survivor And so it's and then i want to get to After talking about the history and origins of the kerner commission i want to say more about the What's where we are now in regard to the issues of race and poverty and What we can and should be doing 50 years later On the evening of july of the 27th 1968 My wife and I were gathered with a couple of invited friends in front of a television set We'd brought into our living room To watch president london johnson's nationwide broadcast during which He was expected to announce the appointment of a blue ribbon citizens commission What became the president's national advisory commission on civil disorders called as you know the kerner commission after its dedicated chairman governor auto kerner of illinois The presidential broadcast had been announced in the wake of the terrible riots and violent protests That had exploded in the black sections of so many of america's cities during that long hot summer Of 1967 with great loss of life awful human injury enormous property destruction Which all caused a great shock and fear and alarm bewilderment and anxiety throughout the country the worst disorders Were in newark and detroit And they were not to be quelled until President johnson had sent in us army troops My wife and i and from friends were seated in front of the television that july of 1967 When as i've told some of you this morning Not more than 10 minutes before the president was supposed to come on My youngest daughter laura then in the second grade Came running in from the kitchen where we had a wall telephone And she said daddy president johnson is on the phone for you Which as i said this morning caused a little stir in the living room So i went into the kitchen where we had the wall telephone and i picked it up. I was standing at attention and I said that's literally true Yes, sir, mr. President And he said fred i hope you're going to watch television tonight. I said i am He said i'm going to point that commission You've been talking about Well, here's a little flashback I was then a united states senator, of course and three days earlier when the detroit riots were At their worst After giving getting my friend and seat mech seatmate senator walter mondale to co-sponsor it I introduced in the senate a resolution to create a blue ribbon citizens commission to look into the riots Not just from a law and order standpoint, but also to get a To get at fundamental causes and to come up with recommendations quote to make good the promise of america for All americans immediately I had the resolution sent to the subcommittee, which i chaired And i held hearings on it that very next morning My would some of my witnesses and one of them was Whitney young head of the urban league But then it dawned on me that we didn't have to wait for congressional action That president johnson could himself Name the commission by executive order I called a douglas cater of the white house staff And urged such presidential Action and i followed up the call as Doug cater asked me to with a hand delivered formal letter to the president So back now to president johnson's telephone call to me He said I'm going to point that commission you've been talking about i said i was glad to hear it He said i'm going to put you on it And i said i didn't expect that but i'll i'll do my best He said and all all of this as i said this morning all of this is word for word He said now don't you be like some of your colleagues? He said i point them to things and they don't show up I said i'll show up And another thing fred president said I said again i said yes, sir mentally saluting at least He said i want you to remember you're a johnson man I said yes, sir. I am a johnson man He said if you forget it i'm going to take my pocket knife and cut your blank off He did not say blank He said you're from oklahoma you understand that kind of talk Don't you i said yes, sir. I do I went back into the living room and they said what'd he say what'd he say? I said well some of it was a little personal that It is a sad thing to me that by the time our report came out The president thought that i had forgotten. I was a johnson man. He did not agree With with our report now back now though to July 29 1967 On that day the 11 members of the commission were called together by telegram We met in the white house cabinet room That first meeting with president johnson vice president hubert humphrey attorney general ramsey clark budget director charles schultz And syris vance the man that the president had put in charge of us army troops that he'd called out to Newark and detroit After calling on vance to give us an up-to-date report on the Situation in detroit with and the rights were still going on there The president gave us our marching orders He charged us to the kerner commission to investigate the riots and recommend action Using pretty much the words that i had used in In my resolution not only from a law and order standpoint But also in regard to their deeper causes He said let your search be free And he said find the truth And express it in your report And that is exactly what the commission famously did Which as it turned out not only shocked the conscience of the country But greatly upset president johnson as well A highly competent and caring washington attorney david ginsburg Was named as the commission's executive director He rapidly hired an outstanding staff And the commission set to work In the treaty room of the executive office building adjacent to the white house we held 20 straight days of hearings From august to december of 1967 With 130 witnesses Ranging from civil rights leader dr. Martin Luther king jr. To fbi director jade gehoover Contracts were let for serious academic and other studies staff members and consultants Working for the commission began to conduct field surveys in 23 cities Including more than 1200 interviews attitude and opinion surveys And other serious studies of conditions and causes Commission members then broke into teams For site visits to the riot cities And personally observed their close up The human cost of wretched poverty and harsh racism Mayor john lindsay and i Were a two person team for those site visits As we'd already automatically And almost from the first despite disparate backgrounds Made ourselves into a close working two man team For our common goal goals for what the commission ought to do and say Mary lindsay and i for example went to Cincinnati For a closed no press meeting with a well educated and successful group of young male and female black militants Well educated and successful group as i said and a meeting That it had taken our staffs more than a week to set up None of these young men and women wanted to be there None would even shake hands with us One young man said Express the view of all of the rest of them when he said he couldn't stand to even look at white people anymore One way or another all of them said they didn't trust white politicians and they added The those racist president johnson and Vice president humphrey either And white politicians like you too They didn't trust us to do anything About racism and poverty John john lindsay as mayor and i among other things As a member with robert kennedy of the senate's ribickhoff committee, which had been looking into urban problems Already knew that such alienation and hostility existed But still This experience affected us greatly With a local anti-poverty worker John lindsay and i then in suits of course Walked the streets of cincinati where the riot and the disorders had occurred We came upon a group of young black men Typical of those who'd taken part in the disorders idling on a street corner And they instantly Jumped up gathered around us one of them said who are you the fbi? The Poverty worker with us told them who we were and what we were doing there And then they all began to say almost in a chorus Get us a job, baby We need jobs, baby One young man said mr. Johnson got me a job last summer, but it run out He was talking about the president president johnson and the summer work program For john lindsay and me as well as for the rest of the commission jobs Was to become a central theme in our findings and recommendations Mayor lindsay and i went to milwaukee I spent a better part of the morning there in a black barbershop Talking with the young black men as they came in most were from the south Having come to milwaukee looking for work Just as local jobs were disappearing Or being moved away The first question i asked the early arrivals puzzled them That that question was whether they found more or less racial discrimination in milwaukee Then they'd been in birmingham or wherever it was they'd come from They didn't know how to answer Because as i soon learned in milwaukee They didn't see any white people That's how rigid the local segregation was in that northern city Mayor lindsay and i and the other commission members came back from these site visits sobered And somewhat shaken In a room which i arranged for on the senate side of the us capital building The commission then met For 44 days Of meetings from december 67 until nearly the end of february 68 To actually write the kerner report Every word of which was read aloud Then discussed and revised Before being approved by majority vote of commission members On harder questions decisions would sometimes turn on a vote of 65 For example when we decided to say white racism There were members on our commission Who preferred little Kind of words like prejudice or discrimination We thought it was important to say racism. It was important for young black kids for one thing We knew that oppressed people very often Come to hold the same bad stereotypes about themselves that the dominant society believes And we wanted them to know That they weren't crazy That there was a great deal of racism. And so we said the words we were the first government agency ever to use the word Racism that was a six to five vote We also had a six to five vote On whether there was a conspiracy President johnson believed that these rights And disorders were organized That there was a conspiracy behind them and I one time I was down at the white house. He also incidentally was worried about john lindsey running for president against him I one time I went down to the white house with a constituent thing With my fellow senator mike minroni And we were going to introduce jane ann jro From oklahoma the new miss america and we went down there as as we came in you could always tell president johnson His eyes were kind of hooded He's pretty low key in his uh shaking hands with you. You know, you weren't in too good order He was getting word all the time what was going on in the commission what john lindsey and I were up to And he shook hands with mike minroni and he said how are you mike good to see you And he said how are you mr. Aroa? I'm glad to meet you Then he said to me fred he said i'm surprised to see you up I I said what he said I heard old john lindsey had you down had his foot on your neck He said stick around here Somewhere I did and he talked to me about conspiracy and the other day I Listened again to his broadcast when he appointed this commission and in that broadcast he said I'm asking the fbi to continue to look into the question of whether there was a conspiracy behind these rights Well, he talked to me about that and I said No, mr. President. I said it's not like that I said there are thousands Of stokely car michael's and h-rap browns that you and I have never heard of And then I knew he was a student of franklin rosewell as I've said to some of so I said to him He knows what kind of ideologies people would have followed what kind of actions they might have taken If franklin rosevelt hadn't taken away their audience By getting at the basic problems That they were complaining about and he said to me Have you read these fbi reports on each of the riots? I said no, but we we had jade grover before us And he's I think it's marvin watching one of his staff members said Get fred these fbi reports on each of the riots And then he told me he said you come in tomorrow morning. I want you to go over these. Well, I did and They they were like this There'd be about 15 or 20 pages Like to say the cambridge maryland report And in it and first of all I think I mentioned this to some of you you could tell These fbi people making these reports. They hadn't a clue Of what was going on in the country or or or why? But at any rate they're in that cambridge report and the same in these others There was a line where it said a source close to this bureau Reports that I think it was like a week and a half ahead of the riots here The h-rap brown Was reported to have been in cambridge Well, then on the top of that report was a two-page report That the fbi report the fbi had made summary Of the report and it by now it's getting a little clearer that h-rap brown Was there a week and a half and then on top of that report and this was true with all of them There was a one-page summary written by the white house and now H-rap brown is there. You can practically hear him agitating for for this riot. That's what the president was seeing the In our report and there was a six to five vote on that and we said there's there was no conspiracy and one of our members said Well, but do we actually want to say that we don't think there was any conspiracy? Well, we don't believe it do you know Well, president said tell the truth So let's just say there wasn't this wasn't organized plan. It wasn't a conspiracy Six to five vote david ginsberg our wonderful Uh executive director and I might say this by the time we got to the end Our report was adopted unanimously everybody signed it And david ginsberg one time said this is the only unanimous report that was adopted by six to five vote And it was a lot of truth in that in our report. We condemned violence and lawlessness In the strongest terms saying that that they quote nourish repression not not justice And our basic and most famous finding as director evan said a while ago was our nation is moving toward two societies One black one white separate and unequal and the report stated further segregation and poverty have created in the racial ghetto A destructive environment totally unknown to most white americans And we added what white americans have never fully understood But what the negro as we said in those days, but what the negro can never forget Is that white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto white institutions created it white institutions maintain it And white society condones it Great and sustained national efforts were required. We said Not only to combat racism But also to greatly expand social programs including those against unemployment and low wages poverty inferior or inadequate education and training lack of health care and bad or non-existent housing The report also made strong recommendations for improving the conduct of the media and the police and for needed integration of housing and schools These recommendations applied to all americans. We said in the report quote rural and urban white black spanish surname and american indians but Misinformed about the contents of the report distracted terribly by the vietnam war president johnson rejected the kerner report And as i've said, this is particularly sad Because president johnson did more against poverty and racism than any other president before or since Luckily our staff had made an early deal With bantam books to publish the whole report on its issuance date march 1st 1968 So there was no possibility that it could be suppressed or filed away unread no matter what However, the report was purposely leaked to the media By a person who in my opinion Wanted to lessen its impact And i should mention that a memo from a white house staff member to president johnson was lately found that actually uses those words Should we leak the report to lessen its impact? In any event the report was leaked to the press Before the commission could as we'd planned background reporters so that they would fully understand the reasons for the commission's findings and recommendations And this leak resulted in hastily written news stories Which appeared throughout the country the next morning And one guy i remember is just chaos that night Reporters calling all of us. I remember an associate press reporter called me. This is a 600 page report And he said i have a 30 minute deadline Can you just kind of capsulize? This is report Well the headline the next morning in the washington post and pretty much all around the country was something like this White racism cause of black riots commission says Many people never learned the rest of the story My father a small farmer in southwest oklahoma Uh, he had about a third grade education He loved me But the way he heard the kerner report was mr. Harris out of the goodness of your heart You ought to pay more taxes to help poor black people who are rioting in detroit And my dad's reaction was the hell with that I'm having a hard enough time myself. I'm already paying too much tax and he was right about that Well, I could explain it to my dad and did But a lot of other people never knew that we were as interested in them As we were Black people and latino people there was not surprisingly considerable backlash in the country still Many american leaders spoke out in favor of the kerner report including vice president hubert humphrey senator robert kennedy my seat made in the senate People like for example great secretary of health education and welfare john gardener john gardener said We're in deep trouble as a people And history will not deal kindly with any nation which will not tax itself to cure its miseries And willard words secretary of labor. I think He got about the best Size up. He said you could you could Condense what the kerner commission said In the words of that great american philosopher pogo Who said We have met the enemy and he is us well, dr. Martin Luther king's called the commission report quote a physician's warning of approaching death With a prescription for life And despite the opposition america made progress on virtually every aspect Of race and poverty for almost a decade after the kerner report For example, we were just talking about earlier today We the high point on on integration of schools and housing was in the 1980s And it's after that that we began to fall back. We've made great progress In regard to desegregation of schools and and of housing and the same is true about The achievement gap The achievement gap in schools between african americans and white kids Was narrowing rapidly uh with the elementary and secondary education act and with other enforcements and For example, uh, dr Darling Hammond, for example, said linda darling hammond Just lately that if that trend of the gap closing had continued There wouldn't be any achievement gap between black kids and white kids right now But we we began to go the other way We made a great deal of progress as you know the The number of african american and latino elected officials increased as did their numbers in the middle class And in all aspects of american life. We elected an african american president But with jobs alarmingly disappearing through globalization and automation With conservative political change And eventually with unfriendly us supreme court decisions as well as congressional cuts and Both taxes for the rich and big corporations and in programs that benefited poor and middle class americans Progress was slowed or stopped and finally reversed Some improvement occurred of course during each of the bill clinton and brock obama administrations But regression has been the trend since the late 70s and that's true today They're still far too much excessive force by police too often deadly force Especially against african americans white supremacists have become bolder and more violent Housing and schools have been rapidly Resegregating locking too many african american and latino kids into slums and their children Into in various schools As the nation has grown our overall poverty rate has stubbornly remained virtually the same While the total number of poor people has increased From a little over 25 million To a little over 40 million As of 2016 Ever since the 1970s the african american unemployment rate has continued to be about double that for whites Latino unemployment continues high as well Labor union membership has shrunk from about 25 of private jobs to about six percent Any quality of income in our country has greatly worsened For example 52 of all new income in america has gone to the top one percent in recent years Rich people are healthier and live longer What's fair about that? They get a better education And a better education produces greater inequality of income And then that greater economic power translates into greater political power So where do we go from here? We know what needs to be done And we know what works A more progressive tax system making rich people and big corporations pay their fair share Stopping tax and spending subsidies that redistribute wealth and income in the wrong direction Strengthening unions and eliminating the legal and other barriers which impedes the right of workers to organize Raising the minimum wage to a living wage Which would be a a giant boost to the economy And bump up middle wages middle class wages too We need more affordable housing And housing and schools integrated by income and race We also need re-regulation of big banks and big finance Better income for those who can't work and who can't find work A sound free public education for all from early childhood through college My first year at the University of Oklahoma first semester My tuition was 48 dollars I'd learned to trade so I could go through school and then through law school As a printer And I was able to do that my grandson can't do that Look what's happened to tuition in these schools and the public universities and there are no jobs for people like him Education and training with special attention to those put out of work By circumstance circumstances beyond their control health care for all The basic american principles of equal rights and equal opportunity for all Whatever a person's social standing zip code religion gender or color Investment in infrastructure in science in alternative energy and technology investment in ourselves Well, how can we get these things done when Present times are so politically tough First, I think we can take heart from the fact that the great civil rights movement led by dr Martin Luther king and john lewis and others began in a terrible and depressing time of jim crow rigid segregation And harshest racism The odds Were overwhelmingly against them But still they courageously resisted persisted and ultimately prevailed We can take heart too. I think from the fact that the polls show That the majority of americans support the measures that we must now adopt and the steps which we must now take We can take heart from the fact that we live in a time of unprecedented growing and powerful people's activism With great new efforts and organizations like the women's march Indivisible and black lives matter Finally the reverend william barber of north carolina founder of the rapidly spreading moral monday's movement And a new poor people's campaign is right when he says We can't keep fighting in our silos No more separating The issues labor over here voting rights over there The same people fighting one Should have to fight all of us together reverend barber is pointing the way i think the way we must go Showing that white black latino and other americans can join hands In coalition to work for their common interests women millenials seniors the lgbtq community immigrants and others Because as i like to repeat everybody does better when everybody does better Thank you So i'm going to moderate a conversation with Our other panelists, but before i do i want to say how fitting it is that we are in this room Discussing the kerner report Because right behind us Beyond these uh this glass wall sits the documents of the kerner commission So the um The 130 folks who were who testified their testimonies can be read Right across the hall the um fbi reports If you want to read them They're right there and i send my students to go read them as part of um their their classroom assignment and You know one of the things that i think is interesting is that these fbi reports which ultimately They found that there was no conspiracy Are still really valuable because in determining that there was no conspiracy what they did was they went into neighborhoods and asked a lot of questions and Tried to figure out well who was behind it and what they found out was everyday people were behind it You know teachers um single moms Young people who were unemployed and looking for work college students And that if you think about it is a trove of information about how social movements take shape They take shape among everyday people who are struggling for their future All right, and all that can be found right behind me So i want to show you the um paperback version the original paperback version of the kerner commission report It's right here and this um Became a national bestseller in 1968 Everybody was reading it right you saw it at everyone's hands And it became a national bestseller because it told the truth Because it was comprehensive right and so despite the efforts of some to thwart the commission's impact It became um arguably the most widely read government document in the history of our country And fred harris um thought it up Okay, uh, but let's return to this question Of the media and its role in both Misrepresenting what happened because the next morning after its leak you have these sensational headlines, right? But also the media is Looked to as part of the problem by the kerner commission and it actually has recommendations for the media Right this private entity doesn't just have recommendations for The um the public sector so um Kathleen if you could say a few words about the impact of Of the media on the kerner commission as well as the kerner commission's impact on the media And by the way, kathleen wrote an excellent dissertation about the media and the kerner commission I just thought I'd throw that in because I read it. Well, I also want to um give a shout out to Mercedes de uriate A school of journalism professor um emeritus who has done such wonderful work on the hushen hutchins committee The kerner report. So um, I'm sure she will correct me if I get anything wrong Um, but you know one of the questions that johnson asked was what effect do the mass media have on the riots? He and plenty of other folk thought that the media Was provoking people to riot. You know, there were some instances in which when the cameras showed up Um, the people, you know, some reporters actually cajole people would start throwing rocks So there was a sense of you know, what rolled at the media have But first I want to go back a little bit just a minute or two on um, you know Journalism is being the first draft of history As senator harrah says it's an imperfect first draft many times and um As ben bradley said about the washington post coverage from 1965 to 1971 The newsroom was racist So you have to understand that Yes, the media did an outstanding job covering the civil rights movement. There are some factors why They were covering Jim crow south Right, they're covering the deep south They're looking at well-dressed negroes being hosed By people like bull Connor Those are images made for media TV plays a huge role in this they interrupt um judgment at noonberg to show selma so you have all of this going on and We get the civil rights act. We get the voting rights act Less than a week later Watts goes up Okay, so media and if you read books on this, there are still some white journalists like what happened? We don't get what happened. So clearly there was a focus on the deep south for most of this time All right, but what's blowing up now? It's newark. It's detroit. It's philadelphia. It's la So and if you read the report it focuses on gettoes. That's the key word You know, they're talking about ghettos so The kerner commission was very smart to actually have like this massive focus group weekend With the top journalists the times didn't participate, but I think it's an it's one black reporter Was there but correct me if i'm wrong on this and um, so In the beginning the media almost was invested in sort of like did we cause this problem? When the report comes out as senator harris Um just said There was this mad scramble because there wasn't a lot of time to figure it out the post got it first So then the times had to try to do it and if you read the time story you do find key words White racism. It's the easy thing to report, right? No one's going to go through the whole thing and Nixon weighs in two or three days later and it all starts well. No, you you know, you're blaming the wrong people But interestingly enough the chapter on media chapter 15 In which the commissioners, um, I mean the yeah, the commissioners said the Three main conclusions was the media was sensationalist Maybe they didn't mean to be but that was the overall effect But ultimately most important the media failed To report adequately adequately on the causes and consequences of civil disorder and underlying problems of race relations That's a key factor the underlying problems of race relations What are the two causes of that? Well, they're not reporting on negro life I think there's even this wonderful line in there where it says, you know in the white press Negroes don't get married. They don't go to the post office So the only time that you know, you are seeing African-Americans in the press is oh, they're riding again You know, so it's that type of factor So it's almost pre civil rights again in the way the coverage is and the pathology that we're going to get from Mornigand It's all this stuff But what's interesting is the other You know, they say that we don't cover media is not covering um the ghetto And part of the reason why it doesn't cover the ghetto well or cover riots well is because there are no black reporters in media So some white guy with the tv truck shows up in watts And people flip that bad boy over and that's the image, you know and tv executives are thinking This is not working the way we want it to So the report recommends that media hire more people of color And that alone should help Improve the coverage Well media love to talk about media. Uh, you know, I was talking to professor tang and it's like media love to naval gays Oh, there's something wrong with us So interestingly enough the kerner commission report probably had its most impact in news media So all of a sudden tv stations are picking. Hey you you're in the mail room Oh, you have a college degree. Come on. We're gonna put you on tv. It was almost that bad um Hiring went from less than one percent in newsrooms to Maybe like three or four percent increase like fourfold. I think in like three or four years Um programs were set up on the east coast and the west coast. We needed to train black reporters Um, they ended up being consequences of that I will say now the number of People of color in newsrooms Has gone up to 16 percent Unfortunately with the way the news industry is going now Young reporters of color and women are often laid off first because that's the history but At one point a society of newspaper editors vowed that they were going to make the number of Minorities in newsroom match the number of minorities in america Well, they abandoned that before the 2000 year goal came up But to this day kerner is shorthand In newsrooms for newsroom integration It's shorthand for how we should be covering race So the kerner commission probably had Its most visible impact on the private sector so One of the things that um becomes clear to me when I read the kerner commission report is The hopefulness that those who participated in the unrest Um were filled with they were filled with this sense of promise And this is the thing that I think is missed about urban unrest and even the misuse of terms like rioting Right what you miss is that people who are engaged in this activity Are optimistic They're shifting their tactics politically from You know nonviolent protests to violent protests, but not because they're nihilistic But because they see this as the moment in which they can make the greatest impact if they shift their tactics And it doesn't come as a surprise to us then that well the cities that saw the most intense Unrest were cities where um the young people tended to be Relatively more educated Tended to be more employed and um And tended to have more political background than in cities that did not erupt in unrest Right, so it's counter counterintuitive. You would think that is the hopeless who participated. That wasn't the case And this is because those cities were still geographies of opportunity. There were still There were still places where people could actually see themselves living a different future Sadly, though 50 years later cities are perhaps less geographies of opportunity today than they were in 1967 And a city like austin is emblematic of that problem We are the most economically segregated city in the country meaning that social mobility here is Is that a very low point In a city like austin the the chances of a working class kid Who was born in austin or a working poor kid who was born in austin moving out of that class And into a professional class or upper middle class is extremely low Most people who make it in the city Are those who already come with some resources, right who are already capitalized And so I want to turn to hu lian to ask What do we do about this problem economic segregation and the lack of social mobility that attends to our cities today? Yeah, and thank you very much, uh professor tang um for the question and of course the senator harris Uh and to our dean It's a great question and you're right that austin is a very good example of this people seem to be locked in To where they are Your question is what do we do about it? And of course that has a lot of answers. I think that um You know number one when it comes to opportunity We need as robust a commitment to education as there used to be for some people You know and lifelong education as the senator mentioned when it comes to housing and neighborhoods You need to give folks as much choice as possible Either the choice to go to a quote-unquote higher opportunity area Or to stay in the neighborhood that they live in and that their family has lived in east austin is a great example of that The african-american population of east austin has declined by almost 50 over the last 15 years and so I think that Making progress starts with investing in people's opportunity and then giving them choice And I know that you've worked a lot on affordable housing you've worked um you know both At the level of being the mayor of San Antonio, but also secretary of HUD. So what are some key strategies that you think? um Are relevant today that were in many ways identified in the current report 50 years ago um First of all to making sure that you're investing in neighborhoods. One of the things that came out after this report was I think A strategy of trying to disaggregate poverty Right, but you know, we knocked down the cabrini green in chicago, but it's almost like we didn't follow the people We really didn't follow through and see if they had opportunity. We need housing choice an investment in neighborhoods so that people as I said can either stay or go if they want and Today we have an administration that wants to take away six billion dollars from the HUD budget All right, we're going backward So the strategy begins with investment it includes choice and it also I think includes Trying to ensure that all of these things are connected together housing and education and economic development and jobs and transportation so Before we open it up to to all of you I wanted to touch on this question of social movements and uh the idea that this long hot summer of 67 and then again in um 1968 with the urban unrest following the assassination martin Luther king that these are part and parcel of a broader black freedom movement This is ultimately what the current commission identified that you couldn't take this event and say Oh, this is you know the bad civil rights movement. We had the good civil rights movement From the early 60s through You know 65 and then in 65 we saw watts or the la unrest Right and then from then on out 66 67 in particular Our social movements turned bad what the current commission identifies as no This is actually a new phase of a long unbroken black freedom struggle and so with that in mind and this is a question that um You know anyone on this panel can take up. Where are our social movements today? You know, are we still um in The time of movements Well, I think so My wife margaret elliston is the chair of the sandoval county democratic party and one thing is After the last presidential election when people were having a hard time getting out of a fetal position ourselves included hey She said It was really a fortunate thing that her undergraduate degrees in political science And her advanced degrees in counseling But she could she could use both very well and people kept coming talking to us What can we do? And then my immediate reaction was my mother always said right in the corner where you are This court court booker says everybody can do something Uh pick out whatever you're interested in if it's player in pirate hood or a clu or whatever And and do something like that and that's what we see now for example marg has a First friday meeting and now it's going to it's going to have to move out of the place Where it regularly meets because it's standing room only people get there it starts at 11 30 now people are getting there 10 to try to get a seat And that's true of a lot of other organizations that I've longed to people people want to do something That I think is something new There was a guy said to me the other day A guy that I like a lot in albert kirke. He said friend. This was last week What can we do to change the climate in this country on guns? And I said well Just this morning I read in the new york times That these kids down there in florida are going to march on the white house and on the state house Now that could do it And that's something different. I mean, that's a different thing. I think it's pivotal this the women's march is Margaret rode the bus going up to to washington and I went to san fe where we had 12 000 people And this last we just had a sort of the second year over the next year of it And I think there are more people involved And that was a multi racial multi ethnic Uh thing There's a lot of activism right now one of the best things maybe the only best thing that the president's done president trump Is to get us riled up and Want to do something and I think that's a that's a very hopeful sign Um, I'll make two quick points on that one of the things is Media is no longer in the hands of just the washington post or the dallas morning news Or you know the huntsville item I know Social media helped create the world in which people are quote-unquote fake news But it also created, you know black lives matter and me too And I think that's important the other thing media did a bad job of explaining to people Like my sisters who will vote once every four years There will stand in line for three hours to vote once every four years without understanding that at what happens in state elections That's where the gerrymandering takes place And media now understand that you've got to focus on state elections Not saying you have to change anyone's mind, but at least have that better informed sentencing I was to say that we've had these spectacular examples in the last few years Of movements that have impacted policy tremendously a good example of that are the dreamers Yeah, I mean there would be no DACA no dapa and we wouldn't be in the position that we're in Without those young people that went out there and pushed and pushed and pushed And so if we need an example that's a concrete example of one that's made a difference Okay, so I think we're at the point in the evening where we're going to turn to your questions And if i'm not mistaken there are microphones on either side of the audience So if you have a question feel free to line up At the microphone and um The uh Before dr. Joseph beats you to a good the one person who doesn't need a microphone Journalist journalism professor, we've got Africana studies and american studies professor. We've got a sitting us senator former senator and we've got um former secretary of hud On here, so I want to ask a very specific policy uh question Matthew desmond's Pulitzer prize winning book evicted Is about milwaukee and it's about racial segregation and homelessness And desmond makes a very compelling argument. He's a harvard university professor Who won a macArthur genius award? But he used the entire genius award To set up a study of housing and homelessness in milwaukee the first time it's ever been done So he used 625 650 000 to do that and they interviewed all these different people in milwaukee He he stayed with with with whites with blacks latinos a whole whole group of people and he makes the argument and evicted That housing is the number one Social issue of our time and it's I found it usually compelling as somebody who teaches on mass incarceration all these different things But he's saying if you don't have a house You can't get a job You can't get public assistance. You have a hard time sending your kids to school and just in milwaukee He looked at the confluence between race class gender and housing And he found just a disaster And this is all up to date the book just came out a year two years ago won the Pulitzer prize. But my question is What can we do proactively about that? Right because he connects housing to mass incarceration and criminal justice People who have trouble finding housing oftentimes are in domestic abusive violent situations When the cops come they arrest women who've called about domestic violence And those are usually women of color And so families get dispersed because of this so housing is this critical critical issue and I know Secretary Castro was was was head of HUD But what can we do proactively not not just in terms of um A new election and certainly a whole new congress new president, but what what can we do to make that? What can we do to make that this agenda item that we are connecting to these other issues of me too and Gun violence and mass incarceration. So what can we do proactively both in austin? But then statewide in texas and then nationally because again that a lot of our students here at lbj Were really impressed by that by that book and and I was too and I teach that book by how housing is so so key Thanks a lot for the question I mean number one is that we just don't have the same commitment To investing in housing opportunity that we used to I'll give you a good example of that CDBG community development block grants that most folks are very familiar with which is the flagship program of HUD In 1974 through about 1980 it had Maybe three or four billion dollars If it were indexed today it would have over 20 billion dollars if it had kept up with that kind of investment Today it has less than three billion dollars. So basically you you're investing what you were In 1980 and today only 29 of that money is actually used for housing Even though that was one of the main purposes So when I talk about investment, we're not investing anywhere near what we were back then Secondly, I think that we need to be more creative than we were back then It would be fascinating for instance to go back to those neighborhoods that y'all visited As part of the kerner commission report because you know what if we went back to those neighborhoods I bet that we would find a lot of them have been gentrified That those folks that used to live there have been displaced And that some of them even here in austin and other communities have been displaced to what we we consider suburban communities And that means that you need a more nuanced type of approach to affordable housing The problem is that a lot of these suburbs Don't want to hear about creating affordable housing opportunity They've never been they don't think of themselves that way as as places that need to do that The big city is where you do that, but folks are getting driven out of the big city because they can't afford it anymore Um When I think about the kerner commission report and then I think about today whether it's an education or housing Um, I think about that we used to have this commitment to a social safety net And to making opportunity possible and we used to to tax and to spend accordingly And then in the late 70s early 80s. We started veering off into Being less willing to invest in ourselves just as These cohorts of young people of color were growing up For the first time theoretically without the the the boundaries the limitations of law Where they could try and really reach for their american dream Except now instead of 48 dollars for the semester of Of you know your tuition at university of oklahoma. It's I bet you know $20,000 $10,000 a semester something like that and um We need to find a way in housing and education down the line to get back to the willingness to make those investments You know, I'm really happy that you bring up the um the suburbs because There's no stopping the trend known as the suburbanization of poverty. It's it's a runaway train The fact that the suburban areas just outside of austin here are the locations in which the rate of poverty is growing the fastest is almost irreversible So if there's a distinction between You know 67 or 68 2017 2018 it's that we can no longer think of the kerner commission recommendations in the context of the so-called inner city We really need to think about how we create these opportunities in outlying areas and Um secretary castor you also brought up that requires an integrated strategy It can't just be about housing because you also have to make sure that people can get from The outlying areas to other parts of the city transportation Uh, they have to be in places where there's a robust school district They have to be areas of opportunity as opposed to just thinking that the inner cities are what we need to focus on You know at the same time though, there's the ongoing displacement of long-standing residents within the inner city and And those institutions including Um Their churches which are tax exempt, but even they are saying listen It doesn't make sense for us to hold on within the inner city Well, you know one thing that came up in a conference that both fred and i were part of last week in berkeley And this was a recommendation made by a former head of the irs Which is if you want to stop displacement what you do is you make sure that the um runaway property taxes that many of these Long-standing residents are confronted with uh do not drive them out and he had a simple proposal I forgot what the name forget them with the name of the proposal is but John cuskin again was it he said if you want to call it the cuskin and plan go ahead and go ahead right And the idea was to hold that property tax or speculated property tax in escrow So you don't pull that money from them just because you know a house four times more expensive was built next door You um you tell them this is what you would oh theoretically if you sold But we're going to hold that in escrow until you do sell Right and so things like that can be done because again displacement is is a huge issue and it's a particularly Intense here in in east austin. Yeah, just to give you a quickly give you a sense of of our lack of I think seriousness With regard to this issue when I got to HUD I wanted the department to focus more on displacement and gentrification And I asked our research department, you know, basically what do we have on that? um They said that We didn't have anything conclusive On the impact of gentrification because basically there has been a lack of Or there's a dearth of longitudinal analysis of what happens to people who are displaced So somebody you know somebody might Not be able to afford the rent anymore and they have to leave or somebody may Quote unquote cash out and sell their home that all of a sudden is worth more But we haven't done a good job of tracking of following them to understand Who has a worse outcome? Who has a better outcome? That was the answer that I got But it shows you that we really haven't been prepared to fully understand this issue Thank you all for being here. My name is Amin Habibnia. This builds off of secretary Castro's Earlier point and this is for senator Harris making a decidedly hot button topic Not so hot button for people that aren't willing to sit here and have the conversation So clearly this is something that has a lot of weight Has a lot of seriousness to it But there's a common theme that's come up this evening and as with everyone who's had This conversation and within their own families on making this hot button topic issue Something that we can talk about with folks that are going about their day Don't live this every day. At least they don't think they live this every day and making it open for a conversation that doesn't lead to people turning off their attention Just even today after you had a chance to meet my my wife and daughter. She had a chance to Call her mom I've known them for years. I had no idea That my wife's grandfather actually worked on your senate campaign And my mother-in-law and her sister actually got stopped by the police by Accidentally stapling your flyers to the phone poles. They didn't know that was against the law And we've never talked about any of these topics as a family even though We should have So in your own lives in your own families in your own discussions, what are some of the maybe Approaches you've taken to Help like you've mentioned your father earlier Making this subject Digestible but more importantly open to people who aren't just going to gather in a small intimate setting like this tonight Well, I was impressed with you this morning. I'm more impressed now when I hear about that Campaign activity his name's Ansel Simpson in your family. Yeah, yeah well, you know Everybody can do a little something. We've all got some Obligations in that respect. I think that somehow We ought to realize we're all living in the same house and getting acquainted with the people That are different from us or And that we're all in this thing together. That's what we've got to somehow get across and it's it's hard to do We and the media's got a an obligation here, of course But I think public officials about an obligation. They've been shirking We we got I say we they got on the national agenda poverty for the first time because John Kennedy Ran for president and went out in Appalachia Shaking hands with the coal miners and other desperately poor people followed by the national press in the press is better of reporting real events rather than On issues or we we've learned about the terrible racism and poverty in the delta mississippi because robert kennedy went there And visited in the homes of people in the press followed him around So I when is the last time we've heard a national Candidate presidential candidate in particular Allow the word poverty to slip through their lips And you haven't heard one in a very long time we talk about the middle class and and the working class and so forth, but We don't you know, we don't hear people saying about poverty and I think that's that's one thing We we've got to do something more than that Then I think another and I don't know how to to do this on a national scale. John Jeff foe and others have been talking about it and a wonderful african-american woman. I met over the last week in chicago Whose name is gale christopher This when I was a fresh out of law school And before the civil rights movement really got going. I was living in lawton, Oklahoma There's a town of about 75,000 I started practicing law there and it was a Army town there was a military base right next door And we started with american indians, but then we expanded it out and we started having My wife and I and others we started having A dinner potluck dinner One week in a black home And the next week in a white home And at first it we didn't talk about issues. We just get an acquainted have a drink Eat a bite just talk and of course what you find out is Wait a minute. These people are just like us. They got the same worries about their kids and And and and they got a few more problems these black people than we do but We got to know each other personally and the first thing you know It also got into where we would say well, you know, jc pennies will not hire any black people black people And uh, we ought to go down there and pick it in front of it And we ought to get the common daughter down here at fort seal to put them off limits This was before the and this had a Enormity if there was some way and I think there is something going on like this on college campuses getting people Together who have different backgrounds or different race or ethnic Or gender or whatever and And just getting to know each other personally somehow we that's that's one of the things that's so bad about segregation Is we we don't really understand What the other person's problems are and that's what we have to get across. I think some way I don't know exactly how to do it, but I think each of us has got some kind of Obligation to help do it I was gonna say there is a woman who had a question on this side and she stood a long time Yeah It is happening to some degree, but let me just say about Tell you this we Gave a contract to a group of academics that ran dies With the idea that they would come up with a test That could be applied to cities in the country to determine where a riot Was more likely to occur about to occur and they came up with a Group of Criteria You know like how much poverty there is and what the relations with the police and this and that and we went over this. Yeah, that looks like a Good test So they applied it to nine cities for example to wats where there was a disorder in 65 but not in 67 And they applied it to places where rides had occurred in 67 They applied it to washington and baltimore where people said there's too large of black middle class and and they're never gonna Have a riot And what they found was That there was about to be a riot in every one of them Their first thought was well, wait a minute. There's something wrong with their test But they they came to the conclusion that there was such tensions and such conditions that that was true So we we said We don't know what Causes violence in one place and not in another But we can describe with particularity the conditions Where this occurs and that's that's what we ought to focus on. So I don't know Whether there's going to be more unrest or not. I hope not but I would I would just like to add that Whether it's do the right thing or the real world fergusson or baltimore It's precipitated by What people consider the unnecessary death of a person of color usually at the hands of the police So this isn't like I mean and I know you you weren't thinking that but this isn't like oh We're gonna have a riot today It's like it's emotions based on something that has happened Something that people see as a sign of injustice and our only reaction I think as was the case 50 years ago is that we need to let you know how we feel And this is the only way that you seem to listen to us or respond Yeah, I would just get quickly. So yeah, it's there was spark, right? There was a spark in watts. It was a traffic stop that ignited it the the Riots la riots after rodney king and the the verdict there I thought about this yesterday. I was watching hbo and I saw that documentary traffic stop about brian king And the officer richter who I think was just fired right terminated recently And your question was do we see anything that would make us think that there's still the possibility of this You know as long as there's Inequality and the frustration that results and then these incidents that provide that kind of spark Then unfortunately, sure Yeah, I do see that Yes First of all, thank you for being here. I feel very honored to be here tonight in your presence um I was born in making georgia in 1958 a little context So I was 10 years over the report was written I've been the Austin branch president of nacp since 2000 so I've seen a lot happen And my question is is given this report and its significance When I look at at cities In particular I look at their budgets And we still see the same budget. There's no money allocated or dedicated for poverty For unemployment for areas where you see displacement Identification these are primarily local issues first. So I guess my concern is Given the fact this report proves that here's the cause of the problem If you do the right things you can fix the education system. We know the importance of jobs Why do you think in 2018 or more information than ever before? With so many small people in this world We struggle with the basic things like Allocating money to certain areas that pay the same tax rate. So my question is given all the information we have I'll just acknowledge it. Why do we struggle on a basic level with having a budget that reflects a Small concern about inequity and the various things that create this predicament And I have you respond So The Kerner commission got it right Dr. Joseph and I were talking about this right before the panel. They got it right They knew what needed to be done and In some small measure they began to do it in the first decade as senator harris pointed out and so you see inequalities You know the gap narrowing but political forces ultimately Decided that they didn't want to continue along that route. So it's not that we don't know what to do Right, it's not like we don't have the empirical data to show us what's going to work What we don't have is the political will to implement These measures that will reduce Public school inequality That will reduce displacement So on and so forth You know crystallize. Oh, I'm sorry go ahead. I was gonna say what crystallizes for me is the same year we did Live aid to try to help You know poverty in african countries. We had farm aid Yes to try to help farmers And I realized we used all the brain power of the world and essentially united states And now we know african-american women To put a man on the moon and to orbit the world And now everything is like in our device like all the brightest minds of our generation Are working at apple Or del which are great wonderful places, but there's like Now there's not this this idea of what can we do for everybody? How can the technology serve everybody? Facebook wants your friends, but is it really your friend? You know, and I'm not saying anything against facebook, but just saying the great minds now We don't seem to be working toward a common good I think that's a great point, you know that it it is harder these days to summon a common sense of purpose And common national identity and there your question was You know why when when we know a lot of what we need to do Why in 2018 are we still having these conversations and have the conditions that we have and one of the I think primary reasons for that is that there are too many people in politics who profit by not And by dividing folks and by you know remember Reagan and the welfare queen Yes, you know other rising people and they're in their condition because they're lazy and You know everything to make other people feel better about themselves basically and as though they don't need to Make the investments that they should in communities And you know, that's not to say right like if we were to analyze all the different programs that came out of The great society that that we wouldn't find some that were not as not as effective As we wanted them to be But we've had 50 years where we should have been learning And improving and improving in the delivery of those And if we had continued to move forward past the 1970s into the 80s 90s 2000s in today I think that we could have made a much bigger dent in income inequality and racial segregation In the lack of opportunity for a lot of people in the country And doing at one last thing because I was talking about those companies and I think Dean Davis would agree with me Universities now have to take a greater role In community outreach and I think a lot of these companies are willing to work with us To make this a better place if our governments don't have the world with all or can't do it I think this is a spot for the University of Texas You know if what starts here can change the world where we're going to start trying to change the world Good So senator Harris final thoughts before we close. Well, I think you know what? Obama used to say You are the future you've been waiting for There's a lot of power in this room And and as I said Everybody can can do something And what we've got to do is somehow is get people to see that their own self-interest is in doing something about this You know, I've had people say to me well Why should I care but somebody not having health insurance? I have health insurance myself Well, he says wait a minute. You got to see what's happening with those people They wait until they're really sick And then they go to the emergency room And you're paying for that with your taxes Or for example to say well, why should I push for raising the minimum wage? I already get the minimum How would it get $15 an hour or whatever? Well, wait a minute That we're not just going to raise the wages Of those people that are getting less than the minimum wage, but that's going to bump up yours too And it's going to put a lot of money into the economy to create more jobs And what are you doing now? You're you're saying well Let wall Walmart pay A wage that people can't live on that's that's not my business. I don't have anything to do with it But yes, you do Because we're not going to let those people starve And your taxes are paying for food stamps for those people Why shouldn't they be able to take care of themselves by their own work? Now some way we've got to talk to people about their own self-interest and that we are in this thing together all of us and I think we we need to show them that we can Do this I Delors Huerta Is grew up in new mexico. She comes from new mexico and she's the one that Is when she was a fellow agitator with sister chavis She came up with this phrase which I think Obama helped popularize and we ought to repeat to ourselves as we leave here see said boy, yes, we can So before we leave though, um, there were many people who made this Day possible and not just this evening. We had an afternoon session as well But the person who really just you know steered this entire ship to harbour Is um, virginia cumberbatch the director of the ut community engagement center So I want to bring her up to say some closing words before we move into the reception Thank you. Dr. Tang. It was actually much bigger team than I and I want to thank our panelists this evening senator harris The honorable julian castra and dr. Cathleen mcgallaroy. Thank you for your insight Thank you for your continuous work and strides and reconciling systemic issues of racism and social bias I also like to thank dr. Eric tang for his leadership in making today's series of events possible And for his continuous work and the larger conversation around social justice My name is virginia cumberbatch. It's dr. Tang Shared earlier and I have the pleasure of serving as the community engagement center director here at the university of texas Which is part of the larger division of diversity and community engagement and similar to what dr. Elroy was saying that the mandate of the university of texas and Universities across our central texas area including houston tiltson university is The community engagement center's mission is to leverage the resources of the university to address issues surrounding Access and inequity in our community And as our community and our country engaged important conversations around justice civil liberties human rights Racial reconciliation race politics. These are not new, but they are ever critical conversations Their mandates for attention empathy continued learning and understanding And although we are decades removed from the kerner report Or moments that we recognize as pivotal shifts in american history Like the suffrage movement the march on washington the immigration act of 1965 or the civil rights act act of 1964 We cannot ignore or fail to recognize that these historic tragedies are still a part of our current realities I encourage each of you to continue to seek out opportunities to build understanding empathy connection and ultimately reconciliation of systemic prejudice and institutional racism Tonight's conversations. None of them like it are not meaningful unless we create meaning outside of this building and in our everyday work Martin Luther king jr. Said human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable Every step towards the goal of justice requires sacrifice suffering and struggle the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals We thank you for your presence this evening I think your your attendance is evident at least of your interest, but we hope hopefully your dedication to such work We invite you to join us for a reception in the back room For some light reflections and conversations Before we do I just want to thank our sponsors and our cooperative organization And I would like to give recognition to a few folks I would like to acknowledge dr. Colette pierce brunette. Who's the president of houston tiltson university She likes to remind us and I think it's proper that it's the oldest institution of higher learning here in austin You heard from nelson linder. Who's the president and of the NAACP here in austin We have ashton kumberbatch who is representing mayor adler's office and the The task force on institutional racism and systemic bias And then we have erica sines and dr. Suchi garage with the division of diversity and community engagement So thank you all for attending this evening. Again, I hope that you guys Realize what a special moment this is not just for for for reflection, but intentional Continued work and so I ask that you join us in the back for some refreshments And if you're leaving this evening, please be safe and thank you so much