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James Baldwin Comments on the Kerner Commission

The Kerner Commission was credited with exposing systemic racism that inspired resistance in Black communities. James Baldwin argued that it stated the obvious.

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James Baldwin discusses the Kerner Commission, a sweeping document from the Johnson administration which concluded that the widespread rioting of 1967 was in response to a lengthy history of discrimination and segregation that impacted Black communities. Baldwin argues that the Commission did not state any new information, and pleads for direct action against racist social structures.