The year 1968 is largely noted as one that fundamentally changed America. A very unpopular war in Vietnam had escalated with no end in sight—dividing the country to the point that the sitting Democratic president, Lyndon B. Johnson, had decided not to seek a second term. That same year, the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, also known as the Kerner Commission, issued a report that signaled a dangerous future for race relations in the US. The commission identified white racism as the reason for a series of violent riots that had occurred in cities across the country the year before. Citing discrimination in policing, barriers to affordable housing, economic inequality and poor education, the commission warned that the country was on its way to becoming two different and inherently unequal societies—one white and one black.
Nearly two weeks after the report came out, Robert F. Kennedy announced his bid to become president. His candidacy was short-lived and tragic. He announced in mid-March and in early April, Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed. Two months and a day later, Kennedy himself was shot. He died the next day. This week marks the 50th anniversary of his death. And in a year that has also been marked by huge change and transition, it's worth looking at the lessons we can learn about race and politics from Kennedy’s legacy.
In February, the Economic Policy Institute issued a report that examined the conditions of black Americans and racial inequality five decades after the Kerner Commission report. Its findings were dismal. The institute concluded that while blacks in America were “better off in absolute terms” than they were in 1968, there was almost no progress in the areas of home ownership, unemployment and incarceration rates. In fact, in many cases things were worse. Here are some of the incredibly alarming trends highlighted in the report:
- The unemployment rate for African Americans in 2017 (the last full year of data) was 7.5 percent, 0.8 percentage points higher than it was in 1968 (6.7 percent). The unemployment rate for whites was 3.8 percent in 2017 and 3.2 percent in 1968.
- One of the most important forms of wealth for working and middle-class families is home equity. Yet, the share of black households that owned their own home remained virtually unchanged between 1968 (41.1 percent) and today (41.2 percent). Over the same period, homeownership for white households increased 5.2 percentage points to 71.1 percent, about 30 percentage points higher than the ownership rate for black households. [...]
- In 1968, African Americans were about 5.4 times as likely as whites to be in prison or jail. Today, African Americans are 6.4 times as likely as whites to be incarcerated, which is especially troubling given that whites are also much more likely to be incarcerated now than they were in 1968.”
So while the country and world have changed drastically in 50 years, the overall conditions have not for black America. These were some of the very things that Robert Kennedy was concerned about and tried to address in his campaign. Would they be different if he lived and become president? We’ll never know. But his work on these issues offers much food for thought and a possible road map for Democrats as they seek to take back Congress in 2018 and the presidency in 2020.