The 1968 Kerner Commission warned that ignoring Black communities would make racial inequality permanent.

Evidence

Like many liberals, Johnson’s rhetoric indicated that he favored social programs to address “root causes” of Black despair, but in practice he—as well as both political parties—increasingly looked to law enforcement as the best strategy to achieve and maintain law and order. The Kerner Commission, in its final report, which became a bestselling book in 1968, warned against this lopsided approach, saying that absent a massive investment in poor Black communities, rebellion and “white retaliation” would render racial inequality a permanent feature of American life. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 401