In response to the 1967 inner-city riots, President Johnson created the Kerner Commission to ascertain as to what the problems and exacerbations were that served to create the foundation for inner-city violence and their subsequent destructive riots, and thereby what could be successfully done by that government to ameliorate such in the future. The Kerner Commission was the best of commissions in the sense that the government really did want to know what could reasonably be done to help make America a better place for all of its citizens. The Kerner Commission report made it clear that discrimination, segregation, lack of opportunity, ill-education, poor housing as well as inadequate infrastructure, along with a police force that often conducted itself in minority areas as an occupying force were the elements that led to the frustration and thereby the kindling of those riots; of which, we do so find, that over fifty years later, that a lot of the very same problems so identified by that esteemed commission, have not only not been rectified, but are arguably even more entrenched and worse, then they were back then.
It isn’t so much that America hasn’t made any progress in regards to the fair treatment of its minority citizens, of which, there are many areas that can easily be pointed to that are indicative that progress has indeed been made. The problem is that, there are apparently intractable issues in regards to the purposeful segregation of those that are the poorest and most vulnerable of our citizens, into enclaves of ghettoized poverty, devoid of hope, devoid of promise, and devoid of opportunity. For these citizens, that are caught in an endless cycle of poverty and dreams denied almost at birth, we find that no good progress has been made, whatsoever.
It is well to remember that this nation is the richest nation that the world has ever known, but to its lasting disgrace and shame, it tries to paint the picture that equality, justice, opportunity, and fairness is really part and parcel of its everyday life, when in virtually any major city within this nation, there is quite obviously a subset of its own citizens, that are treated in a manner in which they are not respected, and these people are absolutely forlorn in every possible definition of that word. These poor discriminated people are the forsaken and the forgotten -- except when it comes to making quota on arrests so done by the policing arm of the state.
A lot of the success or lack of success in America, really comes down to the neighborhood that a given individual grows up in. All children are born with a desire to learn, and to become something of merit in their respective lives, and when that desire is properly nurtured and has the infrastructure that supports such, mostly good things occur. On the other hand, when those dreams are basically snuffed out in the cradle, then what so happens, is a significant portion of those that live within this construct of American democracy, have a promissory note that not only has not been paid in full, but basically have a promissory note that is bogus, fraudulent, and without legal standing, whatsoever.