there was a political character to what was going on. >> all right. well, i want to thank our panel and we look for to the publication which will be a great contribution to the discussion and understanding of the kerner commission report. thank you very much, and thank you all. [applause] >> very good, thank you. >> next, we continue our coverage of this weekend's meeting in washington dc.

you're watching american history tv on c-span3. >> elizabeth hinton, a professor at harvard university. i want to begin with something ago.aid a while he said the kerner to a war on crime. explain that. >> the kerner report itself was a response to the war on crime. new prioritynd of going on for two years. it basically involved unprecedented national investment. for the first time in u.s. history. this was a policy. domestic policy. war on crime was a very important component to johnson's great society, but the kerner report identified the major problems that police department one countering and was much in line with the goals of johnson's police intervention, which was to improve relations between communities and police officers, and also make sure that adequate

police force were in urban communities that were susceptible to urban disorder or rioting. in urban communities that were susceptible to urban disorder or rioting. the recommendations of the kerner commission that actually achieve legislative implementations were not only reinforced -- not only -- focused on the policing aspects of how to deal with the problems, rather than the larger social economic critiques and policy suggestions that was put forward. the kerner commission placed real strong emphasis on the role of white racism, leading to the kind of unrest we witness in american cities in the mid-1960's. >> for the mistakes? --what were the mistakes? elizabeth: the police officers

resorted to brutal force. police brutality was a catalyst of disorder in the 1960's. and there were separate incidents between 1955 and 1968. it was a real kind of major issue that was often a response to kind of indiscriminate, brutal police force, and the police officers in that of being the cause of unrest, but quickly moved on to the larger social institutions. part of what the kerner commission wanted to do was promote improved relationships between police officers and the residents who they were serving. the idea being that it would alleviate fear on both sides, fear of black residents to police officers, and police officer to black residents.

there would be review boards on thate departments so police grievances would be adequately addressed. part of what the kerner commission wanted to do was to emphasize a more intra-goal role of police officers into the community, not just focus on crime such as loitering and vagrancy, but to also prosecute serious crimes instead of locking people up or arresting people. >> why was governor kerner selected, the governor of illinois? elizabeth: illinois was a key kind of state. he was seen as somebody who was a moderate political orientation to steer the committee in a direction that would hopefully

not produce conclusions that were too radical or would not be amenable to policy changes. >> one of the questions asked, why did it happen? in 1964/1965, yeah the civil rights act, so there were efforts in play to try to help african-americans, but we saw these demonstrations and uprisings. why? elizabeth: the civil rights act in the voting rights act in the war on poverty did not address the social economic problems that low income black urban people were facing in the mid-1960's. because of the dismantling of jim crow and desegregation in the southern states, northern african-americans were subject to segregation, redlining, and isolation and marginalization that was not being addressed by national policies. jobsar on poverty was a

training program. what was needed was a massive infusion of programs. it led to the frustrations of a come right into these incidents in the 1960's. >> detroit was one of the epicenters, was in it? calledth: yes, johnson the commission during the detroit uprising. it allowed johnson to take action on something that really required a long-term legislative and well-planned response. graduate of hidden, columbia university. let's get to your phone calls. iris is joining us from michigan. hi, and happy new year to you both. i was born and raised in detroit i am 84 years old. we had a mixed neighborhood.

what public schools. schools. public we do not have a problem. no kidding. everybody got along. my school was mixed, central high. director forpaign two folks running for class offices. 12th grade, we danced together, laugh together, and there was no trouble, seriously. we all lived together, and there was no separation. poor, rich, in between, no one was looking in your pocket books. two orhink bussing took three hours out of every kid's education just having to get on a bus, go to a different neighborhood, crossing county lines to integrate for a couple of hours into a system that they made no friends and had to go

back to the same community, and we are told about the people in the suburbs were the ones who moved out of this neighborhood is because everything was local at that time. we do not run around the country. people did not have that kind of wealth, and if they did, they did not fool around with it. it was safe. but we do not have this dissension until the federal government sent the troops and after the riots. we did not have the problem -- we did not have a problem with police. it was soldier standing there with guns and hanks rolling -- and tanks rolling in. they were carrying nightsticks. >> iris, thank you for sharing your story. thank you for calling from the detroit area. elizabeth: you made to really important points. is that what was

needed was an infusion of resources in urban public schools that were underfunded. it is really about where do we allocate resources and how can we improve the kinds of institutions that people who are at the margins of society have access to? the second point about the police, one of the misconceptions about the uprising is there were all of these attacks on police by black residents. and in detroit, there were at least 20 casualties a black residents at the hands of policing. what ends up happening in these situations, police officers get scared and start firing their guns and people end up dying. dying atpeople end up the hands of police. early report came out in 1968. within a few months, martin luther king would be assassinated and then john

kennedy would be assassinated. >> and then we get hundreds of riots in major american cities in the spring. >> let's go to tom in california. go ahead, please. >> yes. i am 71 years old. as far as i can see, what we are constantly doing is making excuses for people instead of people taking responsibility for their own lives. in my life, i was married at 16, dropped out of high school, had two kids when i was 20 years old, and i had never received a welfare check, never received an employment check, no kind of government help. i work and did my job -- i worked and did my job. my kids went to college and did well. we need to stop making excuses for people and have them be responsible for their lives. >> tom, thank you.

elizabeth: thank you for that. the same time, we have to take into account our history and the history of systemic discrimination that has handed out some opportunities to some, and missed opportunities or prevented opportunities for others. >> when you are in the classroom trying to explain this to the millennial generation, what kind of reaction do you get from them? do they view this as ancient history or think these are problems we still have today? elizabeth: especially teaching kind of in the context of black lives matter, and ferguson and baltimore and the obama presidency, trump's election, i think students are very aware that the 1960's was a very crucial moment in that we are still living in the unfinished legacy of what the current commission called the crisis of race relations, that the

fundamental problems of american society that the current commission pointed out, which still -- which is what we are still dealing with. >> having read the report, i want to get your reaction to what stands out the most. but first, bob is joining us from indiana. you are with us with elizabeth hidden from harvard university. >> yes. i read for some years about the police helping and communities in new york city for some years. and it seemed to be really effective. it took a little dip when we got into the mode of assassinations of police. i read this morning in the wall street journal how the program is active in a number of cities

and building some successes. i am pleased to hear that. my question is, how can we publicize this a lot more? that encounter what i am seeing as a very negative attitude? the protests are polarizing us. we have the publicize the good things that are going on, and try to get to an operation -- and try to get joint cooperation. background and your point of view on this. >> i am 79 and i have been in business. we lived in detroit in the suburbs in 1966. very thrilled on trying to help on this and i read a lot. i understand some of the programs.

i want to support that so strongly as opposed to all the polarization i see going on. >> thank you, bob. inzabeth: in recent years the wake of ferguson, there has been a number of reforms led by the federal government. local police departments are making an attempt to improve relations with the community, and there was a lot of about communities that are targeting police. can confront those issues and have honest conversations, this misrepresentation is going to continue. >> is the mistrust greater than it was 50 years ago? mistrust ishe

greater, if not the same. >> nancy is joining us from new york city. go ahead, nancy. hello. a professor testified in front of the kerner commission and wrote the book in which he documented that in all the --ies across the country they felt they had no other recourse as professor fogelson said. it showed people that the conventional thought that the

, and itn the ghettos was an important piece of research. elizabeth: one of the major conclusions that the current commission highlighted was that there was a wide swath of people who participated and it wasn't , these were young kids who were causing trouble and inherently violent.

>> does this has anything to do and thetball players national anthem? i think until we foster a more equitable and inclusive society and really deal with the exploitation that the number of the groups are going to continue to see this kind of three assistants. >> what is your take away of this conference. elizabeth: it is my association. it is a wonderful organization. i think personally this is the

point i have been making again and again we can't understand anything about the president until we look at the past. present to then public and audiences that we can come to terms with the united states but worldwide what some and movestakes were forward and identify alternative pathways. >> what are those conversations or collaborations like? gettingh: part of it is conversations with old friends and people who have written books and owning your own ideas, when you get gets to panels and hear presentations on subjects. what is exciting about the historical association is that with me as a historian, i can go

to medieval history and learn that an entirely new field i might not normally get exposed to. that is one of the exciting things. in woodland,next north carolina. thank you for waiting. go ahead, please. sharon: i am so happy to be a part of this c-span conversation . i have never really heard of the report. it seems like there was a concerted effort to hold back that martin luther king was instrumental in getting president johnson to act at all in response to the poverty and

the problems that the people were having. one of the books that i read said that we have called you and try to get in touch with you and you have not responded so now we are coming to you. thank you, sharon pair will get a response. elizabeth: one of the truths that we learned from the 1960's and black history and general is that policymakers are not going to make changes out of the goodness of their hearts. it takes dedicated organizations and protests in order to push policymakers to ship their view on things. matter,h black lives there has always been some crucial things. him wide andhind diverse who came together to say that the african-americans deserve to vote.

we're joined from louisiana. go ahead, please. that the that the role whatttee plays, given emerged in june of 66 -- 1966 into black power, to what extent do you think the concept that the struggle was about getting power? to what extent do you think that influenced the uprising or the revolts in 1967 and 1968? many people seem to stress the spontaneity of the uprisings. an intellectual person must admit there was spontaneity. was there some degree of organization and motivation to the need for organization as organization?

elizabeth: this is an important question that came up in the panel. sustainedothing organization to the rebellion. there is thist radicals like black panthers are behind the uprising. those have not really been proven by historians. i think the grievances and the social economic reality is that we are a breeding ground for the civil rights movement and but our movement and uprisings were rooted in the same and demand for an end to the exclusionary institutions that were operating in african-american communities

and an outside police force and community power and control. these were grievances behind the uprisings and the more formal arts of this were rooted in the same concern. >> is there one part of this report that stands out 50 years later for you personally? elizabeth: the nation is moving toward one white one black and unequal. these are the catchphrases that got picked up. is on american racism as being one of the core problems that the u.s. has confronted and is really important. it is why we are steel -- still dealing with these. >> what do you treat -- teach? elizabeth: i am about to teach african-american history from course,l war, prison

mostly within 20th-century u.s. history and african-american studies. >> announcer: next, we continue with our coverage of this in washington,ng d.c.. you're watching american history tv on c-span3. authorant to welcome the of a new book that is out on watergate. first, the premise of the book? thek class of 1974. john: it is difficult to write a book about congress because it is a very large institution.