Authors: Keisha L. Bentley-Edwards, Malik Chaka Edwards, Cynthia Neal Spence, William A. Darity, Jr., Darrick Hamilton, and Jasson Perez
Abstract: Using an intersectional lens of race and gender, this article offers a critique of the Kerner Commission report and fills the gap of the missing analysis of white rage and of black women. A protracted history of white race riots resulted in the loss of black lives, black-owned property, and constitutional rights. However, only black riots, marked by the loss of white-owned property but few white lives, was the issue that prompted the formation of a national commission to investigate the events. Then and now, the privileging of white property rights over black life and liberty explains why black revolts result in presidential commissions, but white terror campaigns have never led to any comparable study.
Key Findings
- While white-initiated race riots have often led to a significant loss of black life, black-owned properties, and black civil and constitutional rights, very little has been written on these costs and casualties. The recording of white deaths from riots are exact, but the estimated loss of black lives can vary widely.
- The Kerner report widely ignores the experiences of black women, while applying a disproportionate lens to the role that well-behaved black males can have in the community.
- Both the Kerner report and the 2015 Task Force on 21st Century Policing struggle to make meaningful, let alone effective, recommendations for remedying police brutality.
- Future commissions must first explore and recognize the truth of how systems, not individuals, create racism and sexism-before they move forward to try to solve these problems.
