Includes bibliographical references.

"Twenty years after the 'long hot summer'... In February of this year, former Senator Fred Harris told a Today Show audience that the plight of black Americans has worsened since 1968, and the New York Times ran a feature article, '20 Years After the Kerner Report: Three Societies, All Separate." The famous Kerner Report shocked the nation almost as much as the rioting that had prompted President Johnson to appoint the commission, headed by Governor Kerner, in the first place. Tragically, its conclusions are only more valid and urgent today. The commission pointed to the continued polarization of society, the persistence of white racism, and other factors, and argued that only a 'compassionate, massive, and sustained' government effort could reverse the overall trend toward a racially divided, separate, and unequal society. In 1988 we can see the result of America's failure to confront these problems of racism and inequality."--,Back cover.

Also issued online.

SACFinal081324