Two Nations

The landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision outlawed public school segregation and was the catalyst for the nonviolent civil rights movement and some positive change for African Americans. However, in 1967, race riots broke out in largely African American urban districts across America, leading President Lyndon Johnson to form the Kerner Commission to determine the underlying causes of the riots. This paper explores the causes of the riots and the government’s response to them after the Kerner Commission’s findings, and then uses critical race theory as a theoretical framework to determine why institutional racism continues to be pervasive in society. The author focuses on three main areas: school desegregation; mass incarceration and police brutality; and sports, race, and activism to discuss the lack of progress between the Kerner Commission report and today.