Dear Progressive Reader,
Fifty-three years ago this week, President Lyndon Johnson created the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders to look at what was going in the recent unrest in America’s cities. On July 27, 1967, Johnson said in an address to the nation, “The only genuine, long-range solution for what has happened lies in an attack-mounted at every level-upon the conditions that breed despair and violence.” The committee, chaired by Illinois Governor Otto Kerner, would meet for the next six months, releasing their report on February 29, 1968. “That 1968 report bluntly declared that the racial unrest gripping the country in the 1960s, which had recently culminated in a brutal police response to the riots in Los Angeles' Watts neighborhood, was a direct result of white racism,” wrote Dave Zweifel of Madison’s Capital Times in a recent column. The 426-page report was issued as a popular inexpensive paperback and sold, at $1.25, more than two million copies. President Johnson was not pleased with the report and its recommendations to address racism in our society, according to a 2018 article in The Atlantic, he “canceled the White House ceremony where he had been scheduled to accept a bound copy of the report, avoided public commentary on the eagerly anticipated document, and refused to sign customary letters recognizing the commissioners for their service.”
Just one month later, on March 31, Johnson would announce that he was not going to run for reelection, citing the need to focus on ending the war in Vietnam. “I do not believe that I should devote an hour or a day of my time to any personal partisan causes or to any duties other than the awesome duties of this office--the Presidency of your country,” he said. U.S. troops would continue to fight and die in Vietnam for another seven years, finally withdrawing on April 30, 1975. The racism in our society has continued for more than a half century since it was addressed, with immediate remedies suggested, in the Kerner Report.
This week on our website, Jordan Walker looks at the plight of Black farmers, unable to access federal relief during the pandemic due, in large part, to “gaps in aid that reinforce the [USDA’s] entrenched and muddy history of systemic racism.” Nia Imara writes about the commodification of Black death. “As corporations and large universities attempt to profit off of the movement against racial violence, it’s apparent that racism and capitalism are as intertwined as ever,” she notes. And Rann Miller reminds us that, “Sending students back to school every day, as Trump demanded, is especially dangerous for Black children because Black people are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.”
Newly awakened consciousness about the history of racism, slavery, and colonization has brought about a reevaluation of statues and the contents of museums. As Nathalie Olah reports, “Slowly but surely, many more people are becoming aware of the deeply depraved foundations on which many other artifacts and indeed, entire organizations, were founded. The pressure on museums, galleries, and public institutions—not just in the United Kingdom, but in France, the United States, and throughout the world—has never been so great.” But this historic moment has also given rise to a renewed awareness in the role of politically conscious art, as Paul Von Blum explains in his portrait of California artist Art Hazelwood.
Finally, this week Ed Rampell reviews a new documentary, The Fight, on the work of the ACLU in defending rights and freedoms under attack by the Trump Administration. Christy Hoffman honors grocery workers during the pandemic, Sarah Anderson alerts us to Republican attempts to give corporations a get-out-of-jail-free-card from liability due to COVOD-19. And Jamie Longazel tells the tragic story of a meatpacking worker who died from simply going to work at his job.
Keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.
The Progressive is also co-sponsoring this year’s Netroots Nation conference. They write:
The 15th annual Netroots Nation conference is going virtual August 13-15! Join us for the biggest progressive conference in the country, with more 150+ hours of live interactive content and fun networking opportunities. This is a critical chance to strategize about how to win up and down the ballot in November—and how to make progressive change a reality once we’ve won. Progressive change can’t wait. More information available at netrootsnation.org.
Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher
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