Whither Whiteness? The Racial Logics of the Kerner Report and Modern White Space M atthew W. Hughey

The Kerner report was, and is, unrelenting in its appraisal of the deleterious effects of racial inequality but opaque as to how whites functioned in that regime. Fifty years later, and in a moment of renewed urban unrest and rioting, whites continue to benefit from racial inequality within key social structures: education, employment, housing, and policing. To understand both the evaluations of the Kerner report and contempo- rary white interpretations of the social order, I systemically analyze the report alongside six ethnographies in all-white­ organizations across the United States. The analysis opens a window on similar racial logics in the report and among contemporary whites. These logics assist in the reproduction of white interests, even under the supposed best of intentions, legal remedies, and policy recommendations.

Keywords: identity, race, racism, riots, social structure, whiteness

Widely regarded as a biting inquiry into the eterious effects of white dominance in four key causes of the 1967 race riots, the 1968 account areas: employment, education, housing, and from the National Advisory Commission on police-­community relations. Yet, it is simulta- Civil Disorders (the Kerner Commission, thus neously opaque as to how whites functioned— the Kerner report) stands as a scathing ap- whether through anxiety, antipathy, or apa- praisal of U.S. race relations. Distinguished by thy—in that racial regime. Although the report its blunt language, the Kerner report uses makes frequent mention of whiteness, rarely phrases such as “white society is deeply impli- is the cause of racial inequality and segregation cated in the ghetto. White institutions created à la whiteness and white people specified. it, white institutions maintain it, and white so- Fifty years later, when race riots and white ciety condones it” (Kerner Report 1968, 1). The dominance are still provocative issues, our ra- report is unrelenting in its appraisal of the del- cial realities beckon scholars to wrestle with

Matthew W. Hughey is associate professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut and a research associ- ate in critical studies in higher education transformation at Nelson Mandela University in South Africa.

© 2018 Russell Sage Foundation. Hughey, Matthew W. 2018. “Whither Whiteness? The Racial Logics of the Kerner Report and Modern White Space.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 4(6): 73–98. DOI: 10.7758/RSF.2018.4.6.04. I wish to express gratitude to the Russell Sage Foundation director of publications Suzanne Nichols, to issue editors Susan T. Gooden and Samuel L. Myers Jr., to the participants in the Russell Sage Foundation conference in October 2017 for their collective feedback, and to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful criticisms on prior drafts. Direct correspondence to: Matthew W. Hughey at matthew. [email protected], Department of Sociology, University of Connecticut, 344 Mansfield Road, Unit 1068, Storrs, CT, 06269, USA. Open Access Policy: RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences is an open access journal. This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-­NonCommercial-­NoDerivs 3.0 Unported Li- cense. 74 fiftieth ann iversary of the kerner report two related issues. On one hand are the au- not disappear today or even tomorrow, we do thoritative state interpretations of white peo- know that change in action [referring to con- ple’s place in the social order. On the other gressional feat] may bring change in attitude” hand are white people’s interpretations of their (263).2 Not all reviews were positive. In 1969, the own place in the social order. Hence, based on American Political Science Review claimed the a content analysis of the Kerner report and eth- report’s identification of “white racism” was nographic study among six all-white­ organi­ overly abstract: “the report neglected to docu- zations, I ask the following questions: First, ment (though ample documentation was avail- how did the report describe the intersection of able) precisely how white racism has engen- whites with the four noted areas? Second, how dered black grievances and frustration” do whites today, across geographic areas, po- (Fogelson, Black, and Lipsky 1969, 1270). More- litical persuasions, and socioeconomic divides, over, Gary T. Marx, himself a contributor to the make sense of their intersection with these four report, deeply criticized the commission’s use areas? The results provide insight on the racial of “racism”: logics that further white interests, even under the supposed best of intentions, legal reme- While I think the focus on racism is correct dies, and policy recommendations. on both strategic and intellectual grounds, it could have been better documented and Bkrac g ound treated in a conceptually more sophisticated The 1967 decision to formally investigate riot- way. . . . The concept of racism as used is too ing—and to understand, in President Lyndon abstract and general. Because it accuses ev- Johnson’s words, “What happened? Why did it eryone, it accuses no one. . . . What is needed happen? What can be done to prevent it from is, if not a report that names names, at least happening again and again?”—was neither a one that names institutions and contrasts new nor prosaic concern.1 Still, the report’s un- varying manifestations of racism. One looks derscoring of “white racism” captured atten- in vain for an adequate discussion of who tion. For the lay public, thirty thousand copies specifically profits in what ways from having of the Bantam Books edition of the report sold a large black underclass. Just which white in- out in three days while another 1.6 million cop- stitutions created, maintain, and condone ies sold between March and June of 1968 (Lip- the ghetto? (1970, 83) sky and Olson 1977). For academics, the notes and comments to the June 1968 issue of the By 1971, critiques of the Kerner report’s Social Service Review asserted, “Not only did it vague use of the phrase “white racism” contin- [the report] attribute the disorders of recent ued. For example, Michael Lipsky argues, “it is summers to what it called ‘white racism,’ but noteworthy that an assertion concerning the it also denounced the movement toward a pol- responsibility of ‘white racism’ may escape icy of separation” (261). The article concluded such scrutiny because of its diffuse applicabil- optimistically: “we know that white racism will ity. On the other hand, allegations of specific

1. Johnson made the remarks on July 29, 1967 while signing the order establishing the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice. The commission shortly thereafter published The Chal- lenge of Crime in a Free Society (1967). Two other commissions were then established: the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, which published To Establish Justice, to Insure Domestic Tranquility (1969) and the President’s Commission on Campus Unrest, which published the Report of the President’s Com- mission on Campus Unrest (1970) (also known as the Scranton report).

2. Loessberg’s interviews with key participants in the Kerner Commission illumines why white racism may be mentioned but never clearly defined in its systemic operation: “What the Commission was about to conclude was not only a major departure from convention, but it was doing so in a very powerful manner. [Commission member Fred] Harris recalls that when the Commission had earlier come to the conclusion that discrimination and racism were the cause of the problems that now threatened the nation, there was initially a hesitancy to use these words because of the harshness associated with them” (Loessberg 2017, 12).

rsf: the russell sage foundation journal of the social sciences whither wh iteness? 75 racist behavior are subject to extremely high the report after both the thirtieth and fortieth standards of proof, and are correspondingly anniversary reports, most discussion was absent from the Kerner Commission docu- marked by political debates over racial trends ment” (1971, 79). since 1968. Now at the fiftieth anniversary, Despite these criticisms, the report became some attention turns once again toward white- notable for its focus on racial inequality (con- ness. For example, Adolph Reed eviscerates the centrating on the black-white­ color line) across report for the “diagnosis that ‘white racism’ four major areas: employment, education, was the ultimate cause of the unrest [which] housing, and police-­community relations. suggested at the same time that combating rac- Chapter 17 under “Recommendations for Na- ism and its effects could be the necessary rem- tional Action,” directly addresses employ- edy” (2017, 35). He further argues that these ment, education, and housing; and chapter 7 recommendations were both misguided and again highlights employment. The report calls neutered given that they were “separated from attention to the intersection of race and polic- its specific policy recommendations” (35). In ing throughout, with an additional focus in addition, I have elsewhere argued that the re- chapter 11, “The Police and the Community.” port’s “failure to outline the specific sociologi- Overall, the report identified these structures cal operation of white domination . . . beckon as contributing to the creation of a violent, seg- scholars to wrestle with how this state-iss­ ued regated, and impoverished “racial ghetto” report . . . both reflects and reproduces domi- (1968, 1). nant assumptions about the ‘race’ concept, vi- By 1992, both the twenty-fifth­ anniversary of olence, and human nature” (Hughey 2018a). the Kerner report and the Los Angeles riots This body of scholarship gestures toward a made the report once again salient. However, necessity to both engage in a systematic evalu- the report’s focus on whiteness and white peo- ation of the logics used in the Kerner report ple was not often present in the commemora- toward the place of white people within core tory discourse. For example, the North Carolina social institutions and to compare—now a half-­ Law Review held a retrospective symposium, in century removed—how whites today use simi- which contributing authors emphasized the lar logics to make meaning of those institu- parallelism of the 1967 Detroit and 1992 Los An- tions and related policy and legal considerations. geles riots (Johnson and Farrell 1992), naivety of the Kerner report on racial integration D ata and Methodology (Rosenbaum et al. 1992), and the erratic devel- I undertook a three-­tiered content analysis of opment of welfare programs (Stoesz 1992). 324 pages (approximately 250,000 words) of the Overall, most presented a sobering view on how Kerner report (all but the front matter, the ap- the “social and economic diagnoses of the pendices, and the index). First, I followed a de- Kerner Commission remain pertinent” (Boger ductive approach in which I searched for spe- 1992, 1293). However, most articles failed to ex- cific expressions and words related to as white amine the place of white people in the orches- (N = 966), education (N = 313), employment tration of the color line. One exception was (N = 258), housing (N = 281), and police John Calmore, who critically analyzed the role (N = 1222). Second, I inductively reexamined the of whites in both housing discrimination and Kerner report to identify “sensitizing concepts” white “solutions” for that discrimination, con- related to these topics (Blumer 1954), which led cluding that “the invidious nature of the dis- to discovery and comparison of concepts that crimination stemmed not simply from individ- are neither “static and inflexible” nor quanti- ual perpetrators engaged in the disparate tatively frequent, but qualitatively important treatment of individual blacks, but from a white (Altheide and Schneider 2013, 26). For instance, group disposition to dominate and exclude terms such as “white racism” (N = 4), “white blacks. . . . The white desire to exercise this repression” (N = 4), “white power” (N = 3), and power remains strong today, especially when “white terrorism” (N = 2) are only cursorily de- directed to poor, urban blacks” (1992, 1499). clared, yet their appearance denotes a principal Despite some resurgence in scholarship on focus within the report. Third, I organized the

rsf: the russell sage foundation journal of the social sciences 76 fiftieth ann iversary of the kerner report

Table 1. Frames, Themes, and Discourse from the Kerner Report

Frequency/Category Total Frame (Code Instance (N = 592) Theme (N = 250) Discourse (N = 208) Percentage)

Education 134/592 (22.64%) White normativity in education 17/250 (6.8) Deprivational harm 8/208 (3.85) White structural invisibility 12/208 (5.77) Innocence of everyday white people 13/250 (5.2) Exceptional white terrorists 7/208 (3.37) Noncausal systems 9/208 (4.33) White ignorance and messianic import 37/250 (14.8) Paradoxical white flight 10/208 (4.81) Imagined communities 8/208 (3.85) Employment 165/592 (27.87) Blackness of the culture of poverty 37/250 (14.8) Black family 6/208 (2.88) White immigrants from the past 7/208 (3.37) Invisible pathways to white affluence 9/208 (4.33) White control of resources 28/250 (11.2) Intertwining segregation and culture 10/208 (4.81) Self-fulfilling black perceptions 16/208 (7.69) Housing 106/592 (17.91) Black underprivilege without white overprivilege 25/250 (10.0) Missing mechanisms for uplift 9/208 (4.33) Causality of white racist attitudes 29/250 (11.6) Hiding hidden practices 10/208 (4.81) Promoting white assimilation 12/208 (5.77) Police-community relations 187/592 (31.59) Condemning attitudes and excusing behavior 44/250 (17.6) Police attitudes = white attitudes 37/208 (17.79) Administrative policy changes 7/208 (3.37) Police ignorance 19/208 (9.13) Lack of resources 5/208 (2.40) Deracializing internal police white supremacy 21/250 (8.4) Causality without measurement 3/208 (1.44) Double standards about double standards 4/208 (1.92)

Source: Author’s compilation based on Kerner Report 1968.

deductively based and inductively refined cod- Each page served as the unit of analysis. ing schema into first-le­ vel frames, second-le­ vel Many of these coded elements were intimately themes, and third-­level discourse. Frames are, linked; in instances in which more than one as David Altheide and Christopher Schneider code appeared on a page, each was acknowl- write, “the focus, a parameter or boundary, for edged: each scored a 1 for coinciding categories discussing a particular event”; secondary (0 = no, 1 = yes). The total frequency distribu- themes are “the recurring typical theses”; and tion included 592 frame instances, 250 theme tertiary “discourses” are specific talking-p­ oints instances, and 208 discourse instances (a total within themes (2013, 53) (see table 1). of 1,050 coding instances drawn from 347 pages

rsf: the russell sage foundation journal of the social sciences whither wh iteness? 77

Table 2. Intercoder Reliability Measures

% Cohen’s Krippendorff’s N N Frame (N = 592) Agreement Scott’s Pi Kappa Alpha (Nominal) Agree Disagree

Education (N = 130) 93.8 –0.032 0 –0.028 122 8 Employment (N = 137) 89.8 –0.054 0 –0.05 123 14 Housing (N = 157) 90.4 –0.05 0 –0.047 142 15 Police-community relations 85.7 –0.077 0 –0.074 144 24 (N = 168)

Source: Author’s calculations based on Kerner Report 1968.

for an average of 3.03 codes per page). Inter- ments, official documents, and office memos; coder reliability measures on the theme cod- and comparative vignettes. To secure Institu- ings were conducted and reveal high levels of tional Review Board approval, all potentially reliability (see table 2). identifying information is either unreported or replaced with pseudonyms. I gained access Multisite Ethnography after attending informational and recruiting For this segment, I draw on data collected as meetings held by the organizations, by meet- part of multisite ethnographies (N = 6) of all-­ ing influential members of the groups, and white organizational spaces. I engaged in the through word of mouth. My relationship with first two ethnographies in the U.S. mid-­Atlantic each group was that of a known researcher. I over 2006 and 2007: a majority-­male, white na- selected these six groups by their relative prox- tionalist organization I call National Equality imity to one another (NEA and WRJ, MAYEP for All (NEA) and a majority-­male, white anti- and BSA, and DOP and LOBA), their status as racist organization I call Whites for Racial Jus- chapters of larger, national associations, and tice (WRJ). I conducted the next two in the U.S. as either purposeful or de facto all- white­ Deep South over 2010 through 2012: an all-­ groups. The data analyzed come from a larger white, mixed-­gender, young professionals investigation of the relationships between group I call Mississippi Alabama Young Edu- white racial identity formation, organizational cated Professionals (MAYEP) and an all-­white, racial homophily and homogeneity, and white mixed-­gender, college alumni chapter of a large racial stratification beliefs about major social southern university I call Big State Alumni structures. (BSA). The last two ethnographies were taken in the New England region of the United States F indings between 2014 and 2017: an all-­white, all-­women, Findings are organized by education, employ- New England–based chapter of a patriotic lin- ment, housing, and police-­community rela- eage society I call the Daughters of Patriots tions. In each I present the content analysis of (DOP) and an all-white,­ mixed-­gender (predom- the Kerner report and then outline the patterns inately male), New England–based chapter of culled from the six ethnographic locations. I a civic association I call the Loyal Order of Be- show a striking correspondence and relative nevolent Americans (LOBA) (see table 3). stability in racial logics across time (from 1968 I engaged in data triangulation of ethno- to 2018) and space (the six ethnographic lo- graphic fieldwork inclusive of meetings and in- cales), which in turn reveal several core as- formal activities; semistructured in-­depth in- sumptions about race in the United States. terviews (N = 204) with members of each group (NEA n = 24; WRJ n = 21; MAYEP n = 35; BSA Education n = 42; DOP n = 38; LOBA n = 44); content anal- The Kerner report created a three-­tiered rank- ysis of textual information such as paper and ing of grievances among “Negro communities” e-­correspondence, archives, media advertise- in which “inadequate education” was a “second

rsf: the russell sage foundation journal of the social sciences Table 3. Ethnographic Descriptives

NEA WRJ MAYEP BSA DOP LOBA Totals

Organizational demographics Participants active (n) 24 21 35 42 38 44 204 Mean years active (median, SD) 3.29 (5, 2.77) 4.38 (5, 2.08) 3.83 (3, 3.18) 6 (4, 7.87) 10 (6.5, 9.51) 14.73 (15, 10.15) Mean age in years (median, SD) 37.18 (37, 8.19) 36.76 (35, 10.88) 26.29 (25, 4.72) 31.45 (28, 10.93) 45.95 (44, 12.83) 56.84 (56.5, 11.79) Age range in years 33 (25–58) 40 (22–62) 15 (20–35) 41 (21–62) 52 (25–77) 51 (33–84) Gender ratio male/female 23/1 19/2 15/20 24/18 0/38 35/9 95.8%/4.2%) (90.4%/9.6%) (42.86%/57.14%) (57.14%/42.86%) (0%/100%) (79.55%/20.45%) Religion Catholic 3 (12.5%) 2 (9.5%) 3 (8.57%) 5 (11.90%) 10 (26.32%) 18 (40.9%) 41 (21.08%) Protestant 16 (66.6) 12 (57.1) 25 (71.43) 26 (61.90) 7 (18.42) 12 (27.27) 98 (48.04) Jewish 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 4 (9.52) 0 (0) 5 (11.36) 9 (4.41) Atheist 1 (4.2) 1 (4.8) 2 (5.71) 1 (2.38) 7 (18.42) 0 (0) 12 (5.88) Agnostic 2 (8.3) 2 (9.5) 3 (8.57) 4 (9.52) 9 (23.68) 0 (0) 12 (5.88) Spiritual/other 2 (8.3) 4 (19) 2 (5.71) 2 (4.76) 5 (13.16) 9 (20.45) 12 (5.88)

Region raised Midwest 6 (25%) 2 (9.5%) 2 (5.71%) 3 (7.14%) 3 (7.89%) 4 (9.09%) 20 (9.8%) North 3 (12.5) 3 (14.3) 3 (8.57) 5 (11.90) 30 (78.95) 25 (56.82) 69 (33.82) South 14 (58.3) 16 (76.2) 27 (77.14) 28 (66.67) 4 (10.53) 9 (20.45) 98 (48.04) West 1 (4.2) 0 (0) 3 (8.57) 6 (14.29) 1 (2.63) 6 (13.64) 17 (8.33)

Political orientation Democrat 2 (8.3%) 5 (23.8%) 5 (14.29%) 7 (16.67%) 25 (65.79%) 0 (0%) 44 (21.57%) Green 0 (0) 0 (0) 2 (5.7) 4 (9.52) 2 (7.14) 0 (0) 8 (3.9) Independent 5 (20.8) 12 (57.1) 6 (17.14) 6 (14.29) 6 (15.79) 8 (18.18) 43 (21.08) Libertarian 0 (0) 0 (0) 3 (8.57) 2 (4.76) 0 (0) 7 (15.91) 12 (5.88) Republican 9 (37.5) 1 (4.8) 13 (37.14) 19 (45.24) 3 (7.89) 23 (52.27) 68 (33.33) None/no answer 8 (33.3) 3 (14.3) 6 (17.14) 4 (9.52) 2 (7.14) 6 (13.64) 29 (14.22)

Educational attainment No college 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 9 (20.45%) 9 (4.41%) Some college 5 (20.8) 4 (19) 5 (14.29) 0 (0) 0 (0) 6 (13.64) 20 (9.8) College degree or equivalent 14 (58.3) 7 (33.3) 23 (65.71) 33 (78.57) 29 (76.32) 25 (56.82) 131 (64.22) Some graduate classes 0 (0) 3 (14.3) 2 (5.71) 4 (9.52) 2 (5.26) 0 (0) 11 (5.39) Graduate degree 5 (20.8) 7 (33.3) 5 (14.29) 5 (11.90) 7 (18.42) 4 (9.09) 33 (16.18)

Socioeconomic status (self-reported) Working class 1 (4.2%) 1 (4.8%) 2 (5.71%) 5 (11.90%) 0 (0%) 6 (13.64%) 15 (7.36%) Lower middle class 2 (8.3) 3 (14.3) 11 (831.43) 5 (11.90) 0 (0) 8 (18.18) 29 (14.22) Middle class 12 (50) 8 (38.1) 21 (60.0) 27 (64.29) 8 (21.05) 30 (68.18) 106 (51.96) Upper middle class 9 (37.5) 6 (28.6) 0 (0) 5 (11.90) 23 (60.53) 0 (0) 43 (21.08) Upper class 0 (0) 3 (14.3) 0 (0) 0 (0) 7 (18.42) 0 (0) 10 (4.9)

Yearly income Less than 25,000 2 (8.3%) 1 (4.8%) 2 (5.71%) 3 (7.14%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 8 (3.9%) 25,000–49,999 9 (37.5) 9 (42.9) 28 (80.0) 20 (47.62) 0 (0) 3 (6.82) 69 (33.82) 50,000–74,999 11 (45.8) 9 (42.9) 5 (14.29) 14 (33.33) 0 (0) 7 (15.91) 46 (22.5) 75,000–99,999 2 (8.3) 0 (0) 0 (0) 5 (11.90) 9 (23.68) 12 (27.27) 28 (13.73) 100,000 or more 0 (0) 2 (9.5) 0 (0) 0 (0) 29 (76.32) 22 (50.00) 53 (25.98)

Housing Own home 13 (54.2%) 10 (47.6%) 3 (8.57%) 16 (38.09%) 33 (86.84%) 39 (88.64%) 114 (55.88%) Rent 11 (45.8) 11 (52.4) 32 (91.43) 26 (61.90) 5 (13.15) 5 (11.36) 90 (44.12)

Source: Author’s compilation based on multisite ethnographies. 80 fiftieth ann iversary of the kerner report level of intensity.” Most of the discussion on could soak up, well, they could learn habits education centered on either racial disparities and customs that are not up to our white or the educational characteristics of rioters, but standard, . . . they need to learn our culture, the place of whiteness in education was both that’s the norm, white culture is the norm implicitly and explicitly addressed. here. . . . nonwhites have a lower IQ and you want to put children with the smartest, not White Normativity in Education the dumbest, people in the room. First, in the report, whites were the norm to which African Americans were most commonly Such a white nationalist stance is to be ex- compared. For instance, pected. However, white antiracists often ex- pressed similar rationales, such as one member The bleak record of public education for named Sherrill (consultant, age thirty-­five, ghetto children is growing worse. In the criti- eight years in WRJ): cal skills—verbal and reading ability—Negro students are falling further behind whites I’m not saying integration is bad. . . . it’s the with each year of school completed. . . . If ex- goal . . . but everyone has a different cul- isting disadvantages are not to be perpetu- ture. . . . for better or worse, white schools ated, we must drastically improve the quality have more of a Eurocentric style and that’s of ghetto education. Equality of results with society’s norm. . . . I’m afraid that white chil- all-­white schools must be the goal. (1968, 12) dren sometimes suffer because, it’s. . . . look, African American children are raised differ- Attention to the achievement gap was para- ently, there’s a different culture, and their mount in the report. On the heels of Brown v. schools can be more Afrocentric and . . . I be- Board,3 the report assumes deprivational harm lieve in integration, but I don’t see how it’s to the black psyche but submerges questions pragmatic yet, like right now, . . . I just don’t about white structural advantages (Carter think we need to fight these battles by using 1990).4 For the commission, educational in- our children as the ammunition. equality meant an embodied inferiority in black students. As a result, the black student In groups not organized on the basis of was more scrutinized than the underlying pa- white racial activism, such as the New England– thology of white supremacist control of re- based DOP, a member I call Emma (medical sources. Whiteness was the invisible norm by assistant, age forty-­five, fifteen years in DOP) which disparities were measured and the pre- said, sumed pathology-free­ student par exemplar to which students of color should aspire. Schools have curricula and standards. . . . Contemporary racial logics of educational those are based on European history and white normativity are exemplified in a state- knowledge, and culture . . . white students ment by a white nationalist I call Tim (coun- learn more easily when around their own and selor, age thirty-three,­ four years in NEA). Tim are comfortable . . . Of course, not all white explained that educational integration was “un- students get it, some people fail [Author: natural” and would hurt white children: “White students?”] Yeah, some just don’t live up to their potential . . . but the schools are Nonwhite children, people in general, need set- ­up for white students, I think, in particu- to be with their own. . . . integration is un- lar, to succeed. [long pause] I’m not so sure natural. . . . children are impressionable and about black students.

3. Brown v. Board of Education of Tokepa, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).

4. Gregg Lee Carter reanalyzes data from the Kerner report’s fifteen cities study and finds that despite a weak correlation between black grievances and deprivation, such a relationship did not link to riot activity, which leaves the report’s claims of a psychological sense of desperation and frustration without evidence (1990).

rsf: the russell sage foundation journal of the social sciences whither wh iteness? 81

Here we see a racial logic that evokes both events occurring before the riots (labeled final an intra-­ and interracial boundary, which de- incidents) “were classifiable as racist activity” marcates a white racial ideal—the right type of (70). white student succeeds in school, by virtue of Members of these six organizations often their racial-­cultural orientation and fit in the used similar racial logics. For instance, vio- educational system, opposed to both deficient lence was framed as a possible, even natural, white students and students of color. repercussion of “forced integration.” Barney Appeals to white children’s intellectual de- (plumber, age thirty-­one, ten years in MAYEP) velopment, white children’s pedagogical com- said, fort, and white safety were frequent both in the report and among the white participants of You can’t tell people what to do. . . . if you these six organizations. For instance, in refer- force people, especially about their kids, then ring to school desegregation efforts, Lara told you’re going to have resistance. . . . I wouldn’t me that her children would not be “used as rule out violence, but when you’re talking guinea pigs in some social experiment, even if about people’s kids, they are going to do I agree that’s how things should be” (human whatever they have to do to protect them. . . . resources manager, age forty-f­our, twelve years I don’t care what kind of high-­minded goal in BSA). you got, but you know, if you go and, if you go and you start telling me what my children The Innocence of Everyday White People: can and can’t do and how they’ve got to White Violence Toward Desegregation learn, and I think it’s bad, well just show me The Kerner report occasionally addresses vio- a parent that wouldn’t do what they had to lence toward desegregation efforts. For exam- do. ple, the following passage appears twice: “A cli- mate that tends toward approval and Appeals to violence to “protect” white chil- encouragement of violence as a form of protest dren from “unnatural” or “political” influences has been created by white terrorism [emphasis associated with school integration were com- added] directed against nonviolent protest; by mon. Derrick (firefighter, age forty, seventeen the open defiance of law and Federal Authority years in LOBA) remarked, by state and local officials resisting desegrega- tion” (1968, 5, 92). OK, let me be clear. I think integration could Under this logic, some white people are sin- be fine and, well, . . . but you have to admit, gled out as, literally, terrorists who defy both there are some natural differences between the law and federal Authority. By framing white the races, and there’s nothing wrong with violence as the domain of a radical few, more learning among your own. . . . the desegrega- commonplace and banal violent white activi- tion agenda is too political, and I’d fight ties by police and citizens were often margin- some politician, or cop, or whoever it is, I’m alized. Even though the Kerner report finds talking tooth and nail, if they tried to force that “Some 40 percent of the prior incidents my son into being some pawn in their politi- [in Detroit over 1966 and 1967] involved alleg- cal agenda. It’s unnatural. edly abusive or discriminatory police actions” (1968, 69) and that “about 17 percent of the And similarly, Fiona (homemaker, age thirty-­ prior incidents [in Detroit over the same pe- one, one year in DOP) explained, riod] involved activities by whites intended to discredit or intimidate Negroes or violence by I get that people want everyone to get along, whites against Negroes” (70), this data did not but that’s unnatural. . . . Listen, I’m not a vio- sway the commission to posit white supremacy lent person, but if someone tries to take my as a cause of the riots. Rather, the report stated child and send them to some bad school that such episodes were “prior incidents” lead- that’s full of, just, little criminals and delin- ing up to the violence and that none of the quents . . . I, [a] real parent will stand up to

rsf: the russell sage foundation journal of the social sciences 82 fiftieth ann iversary of the kerner report

protect their child” [Author: “I’m sorry, who impacts on African Americans, the report’s are the criminals and delinquents?”]. The mention of white condonance (the acceptance, kids, I mean, they are going to be soon. [Au- approval, or sanction of these conditions) be- thor: “The white kids in the integrated trays such a conclusion. This contradiction is school?”] No, it’s, you know what I mean, it’s, apparent in the Kerner report’s focus on white listen, there are statistics that show that racial beliefs as “one of the major causes” for black, uh, African American students are white migration away from inner cities (known more likely to commit crimes, . . . I don’t as white flight). For instance, want my children around that, and I’d fight anyone, I mean, if I had to hit, punch, kick, As the whites were absorbed by the larger scream, or like chain myself to the school- society, many left their predominantly eth- house door, if I had to, I would to, to protect nic neighborhoods and moved to outlying my children. areas to obtain newer housing and better schools. . . . Yet most Negro families have re- White violence in defense of segregation qua mained within predominantly Negro neigh- children was used to construct the ideal white borhoods, primarly [sic] because they have parent; a steadfast opponent of both “unnatu- been effectively excluded from white residen- ral” integration and a protector from the “crim- tial areas. . . . Another form of discrimination inal and delinquent” characteristics believed just as significant is white withdrawal from, natural to adolescent blackness. or refusal to enter, neighborhoods where large numbers of Negroes are moving or al- White Ignorance and Messianic Import ready residing. . . . Once this happens, the re- The assumption that whites had a lack of racial maining whites seek to leave, thus confirm- understandings runs throughout the Kerner ing the existing belief among whites that report. For example, “What white Americans complete transformation of a neighborhood have never fully understood—but what the Ne- is inevitable once Negroes begin to enter. gro can never forget—is that white society is Since the belief itself is one of the major deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institu- causes of the transformation, it becomes a tions created it. white institutions maintain it, self- fu­ lfilling prophecy which inhibits the de- and white society condones it” (1968, 1). In an velopment of racially integrated neighbor- often quoted line, the report places both blame hoods. (1968, 119) and salvation of ghetto conditions in white knowledge. Following this logic, the report con- The report does not resolve this contradic- cludes that intercessions into ghetto condi- tion—a kind of “Schrödinger’s whiteness” tions could be addressed via better communi- (Hughey 2018b)—that is simultaneously mind- cation with whites: ful of and oblivious to white involvement in black ghetto conditions and segregation. On In addition to establishing a foundation for the one hand, whites are simultaneously un- needed legislative measures, these hearings aware of condoning ghetto conditions (and would constitute a visible demonstration of thus need better communication about them governmental concern for the problems of and their role in their creation, maintenance, ghetto residents. They would also provide a and condonance), but on the other are all too most useful means of bridging the commu- aware of these conditions and explicitly leave nications gap, contributing to an improved them (thus both condoning African Americans understanding in the white community to exclusively live in them while having “effec- about the conditions of ghetto life. (1968, 152) tively excluded [African Americans] from white residential areas” [1968, 119]). Although it is conceivable that some whites Temporarily ignoring white racial con- are unaware of their involvement in the cre- sciousness, the Kerner report places the cause ation and maintenance of inner-­city social of this supposed white ignorance at the feet of problems that hold disproportionate negative mass media:

rsf: the russell sage foundation journal of the social sciences whither wh iteness? 83

They [the media] have not communicated to sacrifice the well-­being of my child.” As Bianca the majority of their audience;—which is (landscape architect, age thirty-­eight, ten years white—a sense of the degradation, misery, in DOP) told me, and hopelessness of living in the ghetto. They have not communicated to whites a feeling I grew up close to Bridgeport [CT]. . . . it was for the difficulties and frustrations of being dangerous, with a police presence and sur- a Negro in the United States. They have not veillance, the poverty, the broken-­down and shown understanding or appreciation of— underfunded schools. I knew it was because and thus have not communicated—a sense they were black. My school wasn’t like that . . . of Negro culture, thought, or history. (1968, that’s “white privilege” [makes air quotes]. 10, 210) It’s all because of race. And I think that’s why most whites don’t want to move there or send The report concludes that the media has their kids there. . . . I’m not going to ei- crafted white ignorance in the collective con- ther. . . . in the end, what kind of parent sumption of newspapers and television: would I be if my child doesn’t get the best education? If what the white American reads in the news- papers or sees on television conditions his Without difficulty, members of these six expectation of what is ordinary and normal groups told me plainly about educational dis- in the larger society, he will neither under- parities across the color line and that those in- stand nor accept the black American. By fail- equities were a (if not the) reason they would ing to portray the Negro as a matter of rou- not send their children to “those” (black or tine and in the context of the total society, Latinx) schools. Many did not seem ignorant the news media have, we believe, contributed as to the causes, extent, and mechanisms by to the black-w­ hite schism in this country. which such educational segregation and in- (1968, 211) equality were reproduced, and none were un- clear as to their consequences. Rather, discus- Media representations and narratives have sions about schools always came down to the been a part of whites’ lack of “understanding quality of the school that was measured with or appreciation” in racial matters. However, it the proxy of race. From these interviews and seems spurious to both insinuate, first, whites witnessed discussions, it was clear that the were not aware of the “negative” conditions ideal white parent would protect their child they were fleeing to put their children in “bet- from the “dangerous” black schools, thereby ter schools” free of African American children delivering that child safety, innocence, and ed- suffering from “disparities” (as well as exclud- ucation. ing blacks from white suburban schools) and Both the report and contemporary whites second, that a sudden realization of negative use a similar logic whereby white conscious- “ghetto conditions” would lead to a sea-­change ness and benefaction will remedy educational in white support for educational integration inequality: “today’s problems can be solved and equality. only [emphasis added] if white Americans com- The Kerner report is adamant that racial in- prehend the rigid social, economic and educa- equality and segregation is largely due to tional barriers that have prevented Negroes whites’ ignorance and inaccuracy of them, but from participating in the mainstream of Amer- ethnographic data reveals that whites in fact ican life” (Kerner Report 1968, 95). The logic is seem to be hyperaware of these issues. As Mi- that a cadre of kindly, white benefactors who, chael (banker, age thirty-six­ , 4.5 years in WRJ) newly and acutely aware of educational segre- said, “I believe in integration, but I don’t want gation and inequality, will suddenly work to to send my child to a black school because undo the system that continues to prop up they’re underfunded and troubled. . . . That’s their educational advantages. Such an asser- what segregation has done to black schools. . . . tion—and reliance on an idealized white savior Integration is important, but I’m not going to figure—would be laughable if it were not the

rsf: the russell sage foundation journal of the social sciences 84 fiftieth ann iversary of the kerner report very real racial reasoning used in both the re- The Kerner report acknowledges a strikingly port and among varied whites today. similar form of pathologies across black and white communities, but addresses neither the Employment nature of the affluence gained by white immi- Rates, trends, and descriptions of a rioter’s pro- grants nor how affluence is achieved. White file were the most common reference points structural assistance is unmentioned while the for employment. Nevertheless, the Kerner re- report alludes to white immigrants simply giv- port is replete with both implied and overt ref- ing up their pathologies and miraculously land- erences to the intersection of whiteness and ing in economic affluence.5 The report’s pages employment. Contemporary whites also hold drip with an implicit conflation of whiteness these logics. with a dysfunction-­free culture, whereas Afri- can American culture fails to value work be- The Blackness of the Culture of Poverty cause, circulus in probando, African American Describing black residents of the ghetto, the people are underemployed. report states, “This pattern reinforces itself Like the Kerner report, the evocation of from one generation to the next, creating a ‘cul- black and Latinx pathologies and dysfunctions ture of poverty’ and an ingrained cynicism were frequent across these six organizations. about society and its institutions.” On the same For instance, Franklin (sales associate, age page, the report continues, “The culture of pov- thirty- ­seven, five years in NEA) told me that erty that results from unemployment and fam- ily disorganization generates a system of ruth- Biological differences explain much of to- less, exploitative relationships within the day’s racial conflict. . . . Genetics makes clear ghetto . . . an environmental jungle character- that there is a connection between race and ized by personal insecurity and tension” (1968, intelligence where the more melanin you 130). have the less intelligent you are, you know, Such a logic fails in distinguishing the dif- the less mental capacity you possess. . . . DNA ferences between the “cultures” of white and and genetics are proving what we knew all black that supposedly keep the latter in a “pat- along really. Blacks, Hispanics, darker-­ tern [that] reinforces itself from one generation skinned people are more aggressive and dan- to the next” (1968, 130). However, one passage gerous. . . . It’s not racist, it’s a fact. compares current black realities with past white immigrant experiences, and critiques Franklin’s interpretation is lockstep with white historical romanticism: NEA propaganda. However, this logic is not re- ducible to the political orientations of white Finally, nostalgia makes it easy to exaggerate nationalism and was shared by members of the ease of escape of the white immigrants other white organizations. from the ghettos. When the immigrants were Kenny (professor, age fifty-se­ ven, thirteen immersed in poverty, they, too, lived in years in BSA) explained his perspective: “The slums, and these neighborhoods exhibited inner cities were destroyed after the Great Mi- fearfully high rates of alcoholism, desertion, gration. . . . it’s all vice there now. . . . Harlem illegitimacy and the other pathologies associ- looks like a war zone. . . . what kind of white ated with poverty. Just as some Negro men people would live in a place like that?” Kenny desert their families when they are unem- admitted that he never has set foot in Harlem, ployed and their wives can get jobs, so did but his self-­assuredness was shared by many the men of other ethnic groups, even though others, inclusive of the New England born-­and-­ time and affluence has clouded white memo- bred Haley (lawyer, age sixty-­one, thirty-­one ries of the past. (1968, 145) years in DOP) who told me this:

5. Throughout much of the 1900s, whites had exclusive racialized access to bank loans, land grants, unemploy- ment compensation, the minimum wage, labor unions, and the G.I. Bill during a segregated military.

rsf: the russell sage foundation journal of the social sciences whither wh iteness? 85

I don’t know if it’s biology or just the way that stayed with it, then in a generation or two, blacks are socialized, or what it is really. . . . there would be equality. . . . Most white peo- all I know is, and people don’t want to admit ple can do it, except for like rednecks and this, but crime rates, drug use rates, mental other losers who don’t have an excuse [Au- illness, domestic violence, you name it, thor: “What do you mean, ‘don’t have an ex- really, all of those, those . . . you sociologists cuse’?”] Oh, well, because they’re white [said call them “social problems,” all those things matter-­of-­factly]. are overrepresented in black, uh, African American communities and families. . . . Both the inter-­ and intraracial divisions are some white people have it, too, though. I quite clear in Talia’s logic: whites have no ex- guess we’d call them “white trash” . . . the cuse for unemployment because of the suppos- white people that don’t, don’t have their life edly inherent value they place on work, whereas together and have adopted some values from if people of color became more like whites, black people or from their native countries then they would have similar outcomes. that don’t fit here. White Control of Resources Both Kenny and Haley demonstrate a logic The Kerner report often mentions the lopsided that relies on inter-­ and intraracial boundaries white control of resources, acknowledging the toward the pursuit of an ideal whiteness. First, role that segregated white communities and spaces of color (for example, Harlem, African organizations played in excluding African American communities and families) are Americans from economic opportunities. For framed as a “war zone” and as rife with “crime,” example, “drug use,” and “mental illness” alongside un- named “white space” free of these dangers Segregation played a role here too. The im- (Jackson 1999; Moore 2008; Anderson 2015). migrants and their descendants, who felt Second, whites who venture into these areas threatened by the arrival of the Negro, pre- are somehow racially deficient (for example, vented a Negro-i­mmigrant coalition that “what kind of white people would live in a place might have saved the old political machines. like that” or “white trash” that “don’t have their Reform groups, nominally more liberal on life together”) and do not reflect the pursuit or the race issue, were often dominated by busi- attainment of the white hegemonic ideal. nessmen and middle-­class city residents who It might be tempting to dismiss such re- usually opposed coalition with any low-­ marks as the product of political leanings or income group, white or black. (1968, 144) generational cohorts, but many younger white self- repor­ ted Democrats and Independents The report singles out racial segregation voiced similar opinions in the company of their rather than culture of poverty as the causal vari- all- white­ organizations. Patrick (writer, age able for low occupational attainment, but often twenty- ­eight, two years in WRJ) said, “Blacks it intertwines the two. Hence, when it does ad- and Latinos, I don’t know . . . they just, let’s be dress how white discrimination in employment honest, they can’t seem to get their stuff to- and the economy are likely to drive the low so- gether. . . . you just want to say, ‘Stop smoking cioeconomic status of blacks, the report often crack, get a job, and, you know, stay in pivots toward renderings of white discrimina- school!’ . . . yes, there is racism, but that’s often tion not as an objective reality (but rather a an excuse.” As Talia (retail sales, age twenty-­ conclusion drawn from frustrated and dysfunc- two, one year in MAYEP) told me, tional black perceptions):

Black-­on-­black crime is what’s really holding Significant grievances concerning unfair black people back. . . . they blame white peo- commercial practices affecting Negro con- ple for not getting along with them? Come sumers were found in 11 of the 20 cities stud- on! . . . if they got an education and a job, and ied by the Commission. The fact that most of

rsf: the russell sage foundation journal of the social sciences 86 fiftieth ann iversary of the kerner report

the merchants who operate stores in Negro Eddie: “How are they going to even measure, areas are white undoubtedly contributes to or uh, track that, I mean it’s . . . ?” the conclusion among Negroes that they are Rob: [interrupting] “The census, man! Why do exploited by white society. (1968, 139) you think they started taking down people’s race? They want to track the money to fund In this light, the riots of the 1960s were not the handout programs.” a product of white repression, but of black per- Aaron: “I heard they might merge the IRS and ceptions of white repression. The report states the census anyhow.” that Eddie: “Oh, that’s that new box on the 1040 and 1099 I heard they are going to use, Much of the violence in recent civil disorders where they can garnish your income di- has been directed at stores and other com- rectly into jobs specifically for black peo- mercial establishments in disadvantaged Ne- ple.” gro areas. In some cases, rioters focused on [Author: “How do you feel about all this?”] stores operated by white merchants who, they Aaron: “It’s not fair. It just ain’t right. . . . I apparently believed [emphasis added], had worked hard, my daddy worked hard. . . . been charging exorbitant prices or selling in- my money shouldn’t go to some lazy nig- ferior goods. Not all the violence against ger. [Aaron locked eyes with me] Look, I’m these stores can be attributed to “revenge” sorry, but that’s who they are. . . I got a job, for such practices. Yet it is clear that many worked hard . . . I was taught the right val- residents of disadvantaged Negro neighbor- ues. . . . this is how you start a revolution, hoods believe they suffer constant abuses by I tell you. Taxation without representa- local merchants. (1968, 139) tion.”

Paradoxically, consensus shifted among the This conversation, and what ensued, was rife members of these six white groups regarding with discussions of whites’ superior work ethic, white control of economic resources. Despite worldview and values, and natural ability rela- agreement that whites hold more resources on tive to people of color. average than people of color, members drew The same rationalizations were shared from a shared racial logic, attributing such across the six white organizations. I would com- dominance rarely to exploitation or unearned monly ask members of these groups: “What privileges but instead to hard work, cultural makes white people different from other values, and natural ability. Yet, at other mo- races?” Giving perhaps the most direct and ments, members shared the reasoning that re- brusque answer, Kylee (small business owner, sources were being unfairly stripped from age forty-­three, three years in DOP) stated, whites because of a “politically correct” system marked by “reverse racist” preferences for peo- We work harder, faster, and better. It’s bio- ple of color. For instance, I once entered the logical. It’s cultural. It’s taught. Just every- meeting place of LOBA to find Aaron (contrac- thing. It’s . . . look, I’ll be honest with you, I tor, age fifty-­seven, nineteen years in LOBA), read these studies by sociologists like you Eddie (mechanic, age fifty-­nine, fifteen years in who document inequality. . . . I don’t doubt LOBA), and Rob (maintenance, age thirty-­eight, the measurements. . . . White people come one year in LOBA) in conversation: out on top in most areas. But the issue I have is with your explanations. You go out of your Aaron: “Obama’s new tax plan is going to have way to not say the obvious: White people are a racial re-­dis-­trib-u-­ tiv­ e [said with punctu- superior. . . . I don’t like to advertise that ated emphasis] component, where they tax opinion, because people will say I’m a rac- whites more than blacks and Mexicans and ist. . . . here’s a common-sense­ reason why I Asians. . . . they are going to fund affirma- don’t hire black people: . . . white people tive action and welfare that way.” work harder.

rsf: the russell sage foundation journal of the social sciences whither wh iteness? 87

Kylee’s worldview is overt, but was shared named. Consider the following Kerner report in more polite and nuanced forms by others. passage: For instance, as Lance (postal worker, age twenty- ­eight, four years in BSA) told me, But the later phases of Negro settlement and expansion in metropolitan areas diverge I graduated from [Big State] and couldn’t find sharply from those typical of white immi- a job for a while. I didn’t apply for welfare. grants. As the whites were absorbed by the I’m not some bum. . . . But I couldn’t get a larger society, many left their predominantly job in my field [marketing] because they were ethnic neighborhoods and moved to outlying only hiring black people because of affirma- areas to obtain newer housing and better tive action. . . . it’s everywhere, especially in schools. Some scattered randomly over the federal jobs . . . . I finally found a job here suburban area. Others established new eth- with the local post office. [Author: “How did nic clusters in the suburbs, but even these you a get federal job with all the affirmative rarely contained solely members of a single action you mention?”] Well, I just kept trying. ethnic group. As a result, most middle-­class Hard work pays off. I didn’t give up or wait neighborhoods—both in the suburbs and for some hand out, like I told you. within central cities—have no distinctive eth- nic character, except that they are white. Housing (1968, 119) As it does for employment and education, the report concentrates on descriptive demo- Here, white upward mobility occurred graphic variables such as fertility and mortality through assimilation via absorption even as the rates and migration patterns to emphasize existence of white ethnic enclaves are dis- white flight and black urbanization in the missed and the racial advantages of whiteness ghetto. Yet, racialized logics were often couched go unnamed. in between quantitative reports of trends and The respondents in the six all-­white organi- disparities. zations rarely mentioned housing issues on their own. I often introduced the topic to gauge Black Underprivilege Without White Overprivilege their understanding. Once presented, addi- Both the report and white group members en- tional prompts were unnecessary. For instance, gaged in one-­sided appraisals of race relations in asking Harry (lawyer, age thirty-­eight, six whereby black disadvantage somehow existed years in NEA) about his choice of where he without white advantage. For example, the re- bought his home, he responded, port states that “Location, location, location,” that’s what Social and economic conditions in the riot they say right? . . . quality of schools and the cities constituted a clear pattern of severe resale value were primary considerations. disadvantage for Negroes compared with [Author: “What about race?”] Well, yeah! That whites, whether the Negroes lived in the area goes without saying. I live in a nearly all-­ where the riot took place or outside it. . . . Al- white neighborhood and I wasn’t going to though housing cost Negroes relatively more, even think about living in an integrated they had worse housing—three times as neighborhood. . . . I wanted to leave my doors likely to be overcrowded and substandard. unlocked and windows open sometimes. . . . When compared to white suburbs, the rela- you need a crime-­free, white neighborhood tive disadvantage was even more pronounced. to do that. . . . whites won’t, I mean, they just (1968, 4) won’t . . . I mean, almost never break into your home. When white upward social mobility in hous- ing was mentioned, the specificity of assistance Harry, a white nationalist, repeats a com- programs and structural disadvantage was un- monly held belief about crime and neighbor-

rsf: the russell sage foundation journal of the social sciences 88 fiftieth ann iversary of the kerner report hood racial composition and frames whites as that any resale profit is generated from racial essentially innocent and nearly incapable of exclusion and discrimination?” My comment housing break-­in. Others employed varied ra- was summarily dismissed: cialized logics to rationalize their choice to live in all-­white neighborhoods. A member of a Brandi (retail sales, age twenty-­one, one year white antiracist organization, Philip (store in BSA): “I don’t think I quite get it, I mean, owner, age fifty-­three, five years in WRJ) told so, home values are just home values. Inte- me, gration brings them down from where they should be normally, based on the market, I know how it works and I’m not going to so, I mean, I don’t think I see what you’re throw away my money. . . . if there’s any saying.” “white flight” in the neighborhood then my Joel (insurance sales, age thirty-fiv­ e, twelve property value is going to drop. . . . I’m not years in BSA): “That’s not right. . . . In actu- going to move into an integrated neighbor- arial science there’s no measure of white in- hood where that’s likely to happen or is al- flation of home values, so, I think, I mean, ready happening. . . . I believe in integration, I’m sorry, but that just sounds like some- but I can’t go broke. thing that someone made up.” Joy (medical assistant, age thirty-f­our, seven Most of the white members of these six or- years in BSA): “That’s what I was thinking, ganizations evoked similar overt racially or ec- ‘cause there’s no way white people just sim- onomically motivated rationales as Harry and ply moving in makes the housing values Philip. Quick to point out the supposed disad- magically jump up a few thousand dol- vantages of living close to people of color, they lars. . . . the market value is based on the were unable to address the advantages that worth of the home, not the worth of the both lead to and result from all-­white segre- people living in it.” gated housing, instead dismissing such dynam- Author: “So, how do the values of homes fall ics as either fictitious or inconsequential. For when black people move into them?” instance, at a BSA meeting, members admitted Joel: “That’s different, I mean, yeah, that’s be- that “housing integration” might “artificially cause of discrimination, but that’s what deflate” the value of homes, making even we’re saying, it brings the value down from whites who favor neighborhood integration to where it naturally is. . . . There’s no white be motivated by economic disincentives, as housing value inflation or whatever you Alda (receptionist, age twenty-­one, one year in want to call it.” BSA) remarked, The Causality of White Racist Attitudes I’m starting out having just graduated [from The Kerner report uses the logic that individ- Big State] last year, and all I can afford are ual, racist whites (in their attitudes that drive homes in integrated neighborhoods . . . but their actions) are the culprit for housing segre- I’m going to wait to save to buy in a white gation and black disadvantage. For instance, neighborhood because I can’t risk pouring “Within the cities, Negroes have been excluded money into a home that’s going to lose from white residential areas through discrimi- money over time. I see a home as a place to natory practices. Just as significant is the with- live and [said with elongated emphasis] a fi- drawal of white families from, or their refusal nancial investment, like a 401K. to enter, neighborhoods where Negroes are moving or already residing” (1968, 6). Further- I shortly thereafter remarked, “If the en- more, the report reads, trance of people of color into neighborhoods artificially deflates the value of homes, would Their exclusion has been accomplished not the entrance of white people into neighbor- through various discriminatory practices, hoods artificially inflate the value of homes, so some obvious and overt, others subtle and

rsf: the russell sage foundation journal of the social sciences whither wh iteness? 89

hidden. Deliberate efforts are sometimes nods to attitudes were decoupled from actual made to discourage Negro families from pur- discriminatory practices. For instance, while chasing or renting homes in all-­white neigh- attending a DOP meeting, I raised the topic of borhoods. Intimidation and threats of vio- white- ­only Federal Housing Act (FHA) loans, lence have ranged from throwing garbage on redlining, steering, and other housing discrim- lawns and making threatening phone calls to ination mechanisms and was told the follow- burning crosses in yards and even dynamit- ing: ing property. More often, real estate agents simply refuse to show homes to Negro buy- B ianca (landscape architect, age thirty-­eight, ers. (1968, 119) ten years in DOP): “Okay, I mean, sure that happened, but, still, that was the past, and In summarizing the relationship of race to how much of a legacy, or an effect, I mean, housing, the report asserts that that’s not making segregation today. That was then, this is now.” the concentration of Negroes in central cities Wendy (public relations manager, age forty-­ results from a combination of forces. Some three, three years in DOP): “That’s right. of these forces, such as migration and initial That was back when Jim Crow was the law settlement patterns in older neighborhoods, of the land. Housing discrimination doesn’t are similar to those which affected previous happen anymore. . . . the laws have changed, ethnic minorities. Others—particularly dis- even if attitudes haven’t.” crimination in employment and segregation Charlotte (tax accountant, age forty-­four, in housing and schools—are a result of white eight years in DOP): “Yeah, that’s sad but attitudes based on race and color. (1968, 120) uh, that doesn’t happen anymore, and be- sides, I, I, well, it’s just, that you, you have However, the “subtle and hidden” practices to just work hard in the face of adversity, so, and exact operation of “white attitudes” are not so, when people are committed enough, specified. And when factors are mentioned, they can, can overcome. . . . I always re- such as exclusionary zoning, the cause of those member this quotation from Frederick practices stems from white cognitive racial Douglass that uh, it goes something like, uh prejudice or ignorance rather than systemic “The limits of tyrants are controlled by the practices, laws, customs, and habits. In these endurance of the oppressed”6 which, uh, passages, the report renders invisible the mech- means, uh, to me it means that you can’t be anisms that promote white advantage and pos- oppressed any more than you let your- its these dynamics as a normative (read nonra- self. . . . if people want to really want to buy cial) process. The specific factors that created a house they can with a persistent attitude.” and maintained the “ghetto”—such as south- ern farming industrialization that increased For many members, white racial attitudes the pace of the black Great Migration to north- (as a causal factor in the creation of segregated ern urban centers, banking-­mortgage denials neighborhoods) could only exist in their most to blacks, sundown towns, restrictive covenants overt form. For instance, Mark (corporate sales, in white suburbs, and redlining—were all but age thirty-three,­ seven years in WRJ) told me, ignored, or only cursorily mentioned. “Sure, there are some crazy Nazis out there that With a logic dismissive of white overprivi- oppose integration.” Such logic was employed lege in housing segregation, members of all-­ by Ian (firefighter, age thirty-­nine, one year in white groups did acknowledge the mainte- LOBA): “If you’re a white supremacist Klan nance of all-white­ neighborhoods, and cite member who is using racial slurs every day, white racist attitudes as causal. However, such sure, that kind of racist attitude is surely going

6. The actual quotation is “The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress” (Douglass 1857).

rsf: the russell sage foundation journal of the social sciences 90 fiftieth ann iversary of the kerner report to stop you from wanting a black person in your in the existence of police brutality and in a neighborhood . . . or would cause you to move “double standard” of justice and protec- if one moved in.” tion—one for Negroes and one for whites. Akin to the Kerner report, members of these (1968, 5) six organizations also told me that housing seg- regation, and the creation of all-­white and ma- Such police attitudes were on par with how jority nonwhite enclaves, was the result not the Kerner report views white attitudes gener- only of bad intentions, but also of either non- ally: “the most fundamental [cause] is the racial racial factors or ignorance. For example, Faith attitude of white Americans toward black Amer- (counselor, age thirty-­three, five years in icans. Race prejudice has shaped our history MAYEP) said this: decisively in the past; it now threatens to do so again. White racism is essentially responsible I can admit that segregation occurs, but for the explosive mixture which has been ac- sometimes that’s just normal. . . . Aren’t cumulating in our cities since the end of World there bound to be segregated neighborhoods War II” (1968, 203). from place to place, on average? . . . and just However, the report does not blame police– because some people are prejudiced, that African American tension on white racist atti- doesn’t mean that they going to act on it . . . . tudes among the police, or white racist atti- Let’s be fair, segregation occurs because of a tudes more generally, but instead all of society: variety of nonracial factors . . . when there’s “The abrasive relationship between the police what you call white flight then can’t that hap- and minority communities has been a major— pen out of ignorance rather than because of and explosive—source of grievance, tension, prejudice? . . . maybe whites leave neighbor- and disorder. The blame must be shared by the hoods that blacks are moving into because total society” (1968, 8). The report suggests res- they don’t know any better, rather than any olution to this tension not through legislation kind of bad intention. but rather by administrative policy changes within police departments. This is a curious Police-­Community Relations solution, given that the report’s prior evocation Police, and their relationship with communi- of racism among “the total society” is to be ties of color, are mentioned frequently in the somehow remedied by additional administra- Kerner report and among the white ethno- tive changes amid already white-­dominated po- graphic settings. Various racial logics are used lice leadership. to rationalize and legitimate an ideal form of Furthermore, the report often explains away white identity and behavior. or excuses white racist behaviors on the part of the police. Although white racist attitudes are Condemning Attitudes and Excusing Behavior the cause of discrimination for whites in gen- The report places great emphasis on the racist eral, the report suddenly provides another ex- attitudes of white law enforcement. Toward the planation for police: discrimination by police beginning, the report addresses a then com- becomes the result of limited knowledge or a monly held assertion: the police were merely a lack of adequate personnel. First, the supposed spark that lit the already assembled kindling limited knowledge of police officers: of riot-­ready urban spaces: In a number of cities, the Commission heard The police are not merely a “spark” factor. To complaints of abuse from Negro adults of all some Negroes police have come to symbolize social and economic classes. Particular re- white power, white racism, and white repres- sentment is aroused by harassing Negro men sion. And the fact is that many police do re- in the company of white women—often their flect and express these white attitudes. The light- ­skinned Negro wives. “Harassment” or atmosphere of hostility and cynicism is rein- discourtesy may not be the result of mali- forced by a widespread belief among Negroes cious or discriminatory intent of police offi-

rsf: the russell sage foundation journal of the social sciences whither wh iteness? 91

cers. Many officers simply fail to understand The Police Task Force of the Crime Commis- the effects of their actions because of their sion stressed the need “to distribute patrol limited knowledge of the Negro community. officers in accordance with the actual need (1968, 159) for their presence.” Communities may have to pay for more and better policing for the Here, “harassment” is destabilized with entire community as well as for the ghetto. scare quotes and is assumed not “the result of (1968, 162) malicious or discriminatory intent” but rather the “limited knowledge of the Negro commu- This response lays bare the logic of excusing nity.” The report is vague on what knowledge the police from racism, and is clear that no is needed to avoid an intersecting patriarchal-­ shortage of manpower exists for districts that colorism- ­racial harassment. Second, the report are not “Negro.” Rather, the key is not whether addresses the supposed inadequacies of per- police manpower is adequate, but how that sonnel to respond to African American com- manpower is unequally distributed across ra- plaints in a timely way: cialized communities. Once equally distrib- uted, one could then accurately ascertain The strength of ghetto feelings about hos- whether a manpower problem exists. tile police conduct may even be exceeded by Across these six all-white­ organizations, the conviction that ghetto neighborhoods members regularly asserted that the police are not given adequate police protection. hold attitudes that are unhelpful in their inter- This belief is founded on two basic types of actions with the public, and most expressed complaint. The first is that the police main- the belief that the attitudes of law enforcement tain a much less rigorous standard of law toward people of color are worse than those enforcement in the ghetto, tolerating there toward whites. As Lisa (secretary, age thirty-six­ , illegal activities like drug addiction, prosti- two years in NEA) told me, tution, and street violence that they would not tolerate elsewhere. The second is that Sure, the police are racist. I think they attract police treat complaints and calls for help all kind of prejudiced people within their from Negro areas much less urgently than ranks. It’s like saying, “Hey, want a badge, from white areas. . . . Recent studies have stick, and a gun with a license to go bully documented the inadequacies of police re- people without consequence? Here’s your sponse in some ghetto areas. . . . In a United chance!” . . . only psychos are attracted to States Commission on Civil Rights study, a that offer. . . . but that’s what the police do, I review of police communications records in mean, I guess every cop is a little bit preju- Cleveland disclosed that police took almost diced, some more or less, but all together four times as long to respond to calls con- more than you’d find on average. cerning robbery from the Negro district as for the district where response was next Akin to the Kerner report, along with the slowest. The response time for some other admission of the prejudicial attitudes of the crimes was at least twice as long. (1968, police, many simultaneously remarked that ra- 161–62) cially biased law enforcement behavior toward people of color—particularly African Ameri- Even with this evidence that the Kerner re- cans—is the product of underfunded precincts, port itself supplied, the report continues that inadequate numbers of officers employed in nonwhite areas, and low or inadequate stan- Because a basic problem in furnishing pro- dards for police training, rather than a system- tection to the ghetto is the shortage of man- atic program predicated on racialized surveil- power, police departments should review ex- lance. For instance, in addressing the New York isting deployment of field personnel to Police Department (NYPD) stop-and-­ ­frisk pro- ensure the most efficient use of manpower. gram (most active between 2003 and 2013),

rsf: the russell sage foundation journal of the social sciences 92 fiftieth ann iversary of the kerner report most members of these organizations were of African Americans should be more patient one accord. Kam (waitress, age twenty-fiv­ e, two with the police. . . . they need to work harder years in BSA) stated, “Black people commit to educate them as to the differences in their more crime than whites, that’s just a fact. . . . culture. . . . maybe what a white cop thinks is some might think profiling isn’t nice, but it threatening is to them [African Americans] a works.” Even the white antiracist member Dun- kind of posture or stance that means some- can (corporate sales, age thirty, 2.5 years in thing else completely. . . . I don’t see why they WRJ) said, don’t just sit down and talk about how their culture is with the police. . . . the police are Yes, yes, yes, the police are racist. We know so unfairly demonized and not appreciated this. . . . at the same time, I think that it’s fair for what they do. . . . I’m sure they would to say that while there are racist cops, there want to do some kind of training where they are also criminals. . . . I think it’s true that learn the different black norms so that they black people consume more drugs and com- can better avoid the constant claims that they mit more violent crimes than whites, so it’s have done something “racist.” not a zero-sum­ game. . . . lots of police are racist and lots of black people engage in Similarly, Martin (grant writer, age forty-­ crime. four, one year in LOBA) matter-­of-­factly re- marked In the midst of the NYPD stop-and-­ ­frisk pro- gram, most research concluded that “Whites the police have different customs and so do were stopped on suspicion of possessing a black people. . . . if black people want to stop weapon at a rate lower than their weapon-­ being harassed, and, I know, I agree it’s not possession arrest rate [while] Blacks were all fair or deserved, then, why don’t their stopped on suspicion of possessing a weapon leaders tell the police about their different at a rate greater than their weapon-­possession cultural differences.” [Author: “How do you arrest rate” (Ridgeway 2007). Stop-and-­ frisk­ think this works with police of color? With “generated a high volume of unproductive po- black police officers?”]. I guess that [long lice stops that had little crime reduction ben- pause], I think the cops just have a different efit” (MacDonald, Fagan, and Geller 2016). The culture, and most cops are white and so, you logic of white innocence and black guilt ap- probably wouldn’t have to teach black cops peared to consistently trump facts about rac- about the things they already know. ism and policing. This framing was rationalized via the logic In both cases, the prejudicial attitudes and that if people of color acted in more calm, dis- behaviors of the police are excused because of ciplined, and obedient manner, then such prej- the implicit whiteness of the law. In the former, udiced officers would not act on those preju- whiteness is not shown deference. People of dices. Joseph (lawyer, age fifty-­two, twenty-­eight color’s actions are interpreted as strangely for- years in BSA) explained it this way: “underneath eign and threatening; they must alter their be- those statistics are a lot of variables that are havior to bring them into a different focus un- not measured, like one’s attitude and disposi- der white eyes. In the latter, whiteness should tion, you know? . . . . if black people didn’t walk be shown patience to learn how to clearly view and talk like they do, I think there would be racial Others through the opaque filter of non- less of a problem.” This stance was often book- white culture. ended by a converse logic. In this second ratio- nale, the racially prejudiced attitudes and be- Deracializing Internal Police White Supremacy haviors of the police should be excused because The Kerner report finds disproportionate white they are simply ignorant of the norms, cus- administrative control within the police pre- toms, and culture of communities of color. Hai- cincts where rioting had occurred. After iden- ley (lawyer, age sixty-­one, thirty-­one years in tifying a systemic racial bias within policing, DOP) was adamant that the report then reads, “In a number of cities,

rsf: the russell sage foundation journal of the social sciences whither wh iteness? 93 particularly larger ones, police officials are not within policing. Overall, the double standards only willing but anxious to appoint Negro offi- identified by “the Negro community” find re- cers. There are obstacles other than discrimi- production in the Kerner report’s discussion nation. While these obstacles cannot readily of those same double standards. In the end, be measured, they can be identified” (1968, 166). systemic white supremacy in police hierarchies Here is an instance in which the report a priori is left both unexamined and unchallenged. assumes phenomena to be obstacles, but with- Rarely was the internal racial dynamics of out evidence. That is, it is untenable to assume police mentioned across the six all-wh­ ite a phenomenon an obstacle to a goal without, groups. However, four police officers were first, measuring the concept and, second, gaug- members in three of the organizations. Paige ing if the phenomenon functions as an obsta- (age thirty-f­our, five years in MAYEP), Micah cle. The report did neither. Nevertheless, the (age twenty-­five, four years in BSA), Robert (age report continued to identify several nonracial thirty- ­four, five years in NEA) and Paul (age “obstacles” to hiring black police officers: forty-­nine, five years in NEA). They spoke bluntly when I interviewed them. Paige in- One is the relatively high standards for police formed me, “I’ve never had a supervisor who employment. Another is pay; better qualified wasn’t white.” When I asked her why, she re- Negroes are often more attracted by other, sponded, “I think because law enforcement better paying positions. Another obstacle is gets such a bad rap, that a black or Latino cap- the bad image of police in the Negro commu- tain would be biased toward other white offi- nity. There also are obstacles to promotion cers . . . they would try to overcorrect.” Micah, apart from discrimination, such as the more who majored in criminology and dreamed of limited educational background of some Ne- being a police officer, remarked, gro officers. (1968, 166) We have a hard time recruiting people of Even if we assume the report’s criteria color to be police . . . and it’s not for every- (1 = high standards in policing; 2 = low pay in one. . . . there’s a lot of racist jokes in policing policing; 3 = bad images of the police, and culture. . . . I don’t think black or Latino su- 4 = limited educational backgrounds of African pervisors happen often for that reason [Au- Americans) are in fact real obstacles to hiring thor: “What reason?”] Comfort. Fit. I guess black police officers, never does the Kerner re- there’s some bias, but, I mean, [laughing] port explain first, how or why the high stan- where isn’t there? dards function in a racialized pattern to exclude blacks but include whites. This first point is The two white nationalist police officers even more puzzling when considering the re- (Robert and Paul) were the most adamant. After port’s own discovery of particularly low stan- multiple conversations about confidentiality dards of performance and behavior among and a couple no-­so-­veiled threats that they, as white police officers. Second, the report is si- police officers, could “make my life difficult,” lent on how or why low pay attracts whites they told me the following as we sat in the cor- rather than blacks to policing. Third, the report ner of a bar in a Washington, D.C., suburb: does not address how or why the bad images function as an exclusionary mechanism. Fourth, Paul: “There are plenty of us [white national- the report fails to examine why or whether lim- ists] in law enforcement . . . local, state, fed- ited educational backgrounds limit black police eral. We’ve always been there. I’m not going participation, especially in lieu of low educa- to let some Afro American into my depart- tional levels among already employed white ment if I can do anything about it . . . sure police officers. Moreover, even if these sup- as hell are not going to get promoted.” posed obstacles were overcome, the report Robert: “I feel the same. Look, we’re being never addresses how the hiring of black officers honest and you want to know so, . . . white would result in their promotion and rise in the people are genetically, the most civilized ranks to become leaders and administrators and intelligent. . . . white civilization has to

rsf: the russell sage foundation journal of the social sciences 94 fiftieth ann iversary of the kerner report

be defended and so many white people, like we both temper optimism and abandon unten- you, sorry, but you asked, are diluting and able teleological assumptions about the sup- selling out our people. . . . other races need posed decline of racial consequence and in- to be kept in check and stopped from cor- stead engage with the “homeostatic principle rupting white culture. . . we invented a cul- of the entire system of racial domination” (Pat- ture of law and order.” terson 1989, 480). Paul: “Well put.” What Worked and What Did Not Work? For these police officers, the law defends Since 1968, rollback and attack on the most pro- civilization and civilization is white. Although gressive policies, laws, and practices the Kerner Paige and Micah would have shunned the white report suggests have been considerable. For nationalist label, they evoked a similar logic. instance, the report proposed six million new and existing housing units between 1968 and D iscussion: How Far 1973 for low-­ and moderate-­income families Have We Come? (targeting African American families). These In addition to the Kerner report discourse and were never realized. The report also suggested ethnographic case studies, the online appendix a “comprehensive and enforceable federal open to this article7 outlines the larger trends of ra- housing law to cover the sale or rental of all cial logics related to employment, education, housing” (1968, 13), partially realized two and housing.8 Drawn from the General Social months later in the FHA (part of Title VIII of Survey, such generalizable data—held in com- the Civil Rights Act of 1968). However, even with panion with the explanatory data from the con- the 1989 amendments to the act,9 the FHA pro- tent and ethnographic analyses—indicates the vides few tools to compel compliance and relies resiliency of white comfort with both the racial on aggrieved home-see­ kers to file complaints logics we might deem racist or white suprema- with the U.S. Department of Housing and Ur- cist as well as deeply unequal and segregated ban Development (HUD) and then sue if HUD conditions (Smith et al. 2017; compare Homans fails to obtain “voluntary compliance.”10 The 1974). For example, although housing segrega- orientation of such laws, like the FHA, places tion across all racial groups in major U.S. the recognition of discrimination, burden of metropoles has declined over the past century, evidence, and related costs on the racial under- levels of black-white­ housing segregation re- class. main significantly high (on the overall decline, Among the dominant racial class, such laws Massey and Tannen 2015; on high black-­white assume an increasing desire for, and willing- rates, Lichter, Parisi, and Taquino 2015). Recent ness to pursue, integration and equality. The white retreats into ever more racially homog- white worldviews culled from the ethnographic enous suburbs exacerbates such segregation data (and in the online appendix) indicate such (Logan and Zhang 2011). Answering the ques- assumptions are unfounded. Since 1990, an av- tion of “How far have we come?” requires that erage of 25 percent of white U.S. residents op-

7. Available at: https://www.rsfjournal.org/doi/suppl/10.7758/RSF.2018.4.6.04.

8. Eduardo Bonilla-­Silva writes, “Traditional survey research is rooted in methodological individualism and as- sumes that racial beliefs are pathological (that is, that ‘racists’ are ignorant or crazy people). . . . In contrast, the racial ideology paradigm is rooted in the notion that the races constitute different social groups with distinct interests, and interprets the ideas, views, and affects of actors on racial matters as their social representations of how the world is and how it ought to be” (2003, 78). I see the General Social Survey research as representa- tive of white groupness and white racial interests rather than an aggregate of individual attitudes.

9. Amendments extended the time to file housing discrimination complaints, covered attorney’s fees and court costs for prevailing plaintiffs, and empowered judges to award greater compensation.

10. The Fair Housing Act mirrored the language of the Kerner report’s suggestions that parties engage in deseg- regation via “voluntary community action” (1968, 263).

rsf: the russell sage foundation journal of the social sciences whither wh iteness? 95 pose living in a neighborhood where half of the tional, abnormal, and criminal values and neighbors are black (see table 3B in the online behavior. Consider the Kerner report’s descrip- appendix). Additionally, in 1968, the homeown- tive section titled “The Jungle” or the preceding ership rate for African Americans was approxi- passage that reads “many ghetto children mately 42 percent. Fifty years later, in January spend the bulk of their time on the streets. . . . 2018, it remains at 42 percent, thirty points be- The image of success in this world is not that hind the white homeownership rate of 73 per- of the ‘solid citizen,’ . . . but rather that of the cent (which saw modest gains over the same ‘hustler’ who promotes his own interests by period).11 Here we see a reproductive feedback exploiting others” (1968, 129).13 Such conde- loop; white worldviews are both product and scending language, coupled with the strategic producer of hypersegregated white spaces. omission of white behaviors that pursue “in- Many of the Kerner report’s proposals were terests by exploiting others,” is also witnessed doomed because they relied on white efforts to in contemporary white worldviews. Judgmental voluntarily desegregate but took few actions to condescension and paternalism—what the so- break apart the segregated white spaces that ciologist W. E. B. Du Bois aptly described as incubate white worldviews.12 being measured “by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity” (1903, What Are the Implications for the 7)—leaves public policy and legal recommen- Twenty-­First Century? dations to address racial inequality and segre- The Kerner report’s discussion of whiteness gation bereft: as long the state treats people of and the ethnographic case studies together re- color as less than solid citizens, good faith pol- veal how racialized logics supportive of in- icies, laws, and practices are not possible. equality and segregation in employment, edu- The themes of “white normativity in educa- cation, housing, and policing continue to tion,” “the innocence of everyday white peo- resonate with whites over the past half-­century. ple,” “causality of white racist attitudes,” and What might first appear as arbitrary lines in a “condemning attitudes and excusing behavior” government report or atomistic attitudes from together indicate the second presupposition of various actors are, when aggregated and ana- white normativity—the taken-­for-­granted ideas lyzed, illustrative of deep-­seated and “common-­ and practices that make whiteness appear nat- sensed” white racial logics. The preceding anal- ural, logical, and moral. If the “primary goal ysis gestures toward a sobering conclusion: we must be a single society, in which every citizen will not have effective policies or practices to will be free to live and work according to his address racial inequality and segregation in so capabilities and desires, not his color,” then long as these logics remain dominant. To - assimilation is the report’s recommended gether, these nine themes reveal several core method to achieve that goal (1968, 11). As long presuppositions that must be dislodged to ad- as policies and laws rely on black engagement dress racial inequality and segregation in the with assimilation to prove their worth via the twenty- ­first century. acquisition of the prerequisite skills, educa- First, the two themes of “the blackness of tion, and cultural mores somehow deemed ap- the culture of poverty” and “deracializing in- propriate, the United States moves not toward ternal police white supremacy” reveal the infer- equality, but masks an iron first of domination ence of antiblackness via beliefs in dysfunc- within a velvet glove of paternalism.

11. In March 2018, HUD Secretary Ben Carson moved to strike the word inclusive and the phrase free from dis- crimination from HUD’s mission statement, indicating further rollbacks of HUD Fair Housing Act enforcement.

12. Recall Senator Walter Mondale’s 1967 comments, a month after the Kerner Commission was established, that exhibited faith in white people to engage in fair housing: “I think that there is a crucial debate under way in American ghettos, and that debate involves a dispute about the basic decency of white America” (U.S. Congress 1967, 2).

13. The sociologist Steven Steinberg contends that the Kerner report is “a white document, written by white writers, and aimed at a white audience—about [emphasis in original] black people” (2007, 93).

rsf: the russell sage foundation journal of the social sciences 96 fiftieth ann iversary of the kerner report

In this vein, the Kerner report presents tion, segregation, and inequality until recogni- “three choices open to the Nation” (1968, 10). tion of the interrelated impact of antiblackness, The first is the “present policies choice” in white normativity, and white entitlement. which the United States would stay the course Without confronting these central presupposi- and endure a continuation of riots and inequal- tions, discrimination appears irrational and ity. Second, the “enrichment choice” (or the atypical rather than systematically methodical “gilding the ghetto” option) calls for federally and banal. To confront these primary traditions backed manpower training and expanded War systematically, antidiscrimination laws would on Poverty programs to develop black capital- be proactive rather than remedial, attuned to ism and abandon racial integration. Third is conditions rather than individually focused, the “integration choice” in which residential and counterhegemonic. That is, rather than and educational segregation were identified as waiting for individuals to recognize and report key limitations toward black employment op- overt discrimination, laws would actively portunities and central variables increasing the search for violations, immediately dismantle likelihood of rioting. Favoring the third option, the hypersegregated white spaces that rational- the report dismisses the second option: “This ize and legitimate discrimination, and have premise has been vigorously advocated by broader reach in combating hate-­speech and Black Power proponents. . . . This argument is antiblack propaganda. I am skeptical of such understandable, but there is a great deal of ev- an orientation without a new constitutional idence that it is unrealistic” (1968, 223). Hence, convention; the United States will fail to either the report calls for “policies which will encour- systematically sanction or change discrimina- age Negro movement out of central city areas” tion and segregation because such proposals (1968, 10), ostensibly to assist in black integra- may run afoul of the First Amendment. With- tion into white-­dominated neighborhoods, out such a radical departure, the United States schools, jobs, and police forces. However, in will have more riots, more reports, and fewer 2018, just as in 1968, such assimilation is re- results. sisted, implemented half-­heartedly or not at all, and ill equipped to offer equal access to re- Conclusion sources. The article has addressed, first, how the Kerner The third presupposition is white entitle- report described the intersection of whites with ment. Revealed in both the content analysis education, employment, housing, and police-­ and ethnographic data, whites are rarely ex- community relations, and, second, how whites pected to change their behaviors. The themes today across geographic areas, political persua- of “white ignorance and messianic import,” sions, and socioeconomic divides make mean- “white control of resources,” and “black under- ing of their intersection with these four areas. privilege without white overprivilege” show a It has demonstrated the existence of specific concerted effort to label some whites as racist racial logics in both the Kerner report and the bad apples or alternatively to issue a vague con- ethnographic data. Such racialized reasoning demnation of white society. Rarely are white legitimates white advantage and appears stable practices, or institutions (that benefit whites and robust over both space (varied all-­white lo- to the exclusion of people of color), specifically cales) and time (between 1968 and 2018). identified for either divestment or demolition. In light of this analysis, future research Refusal to both name and remove white domi- on both state reports and modern white-­ nation in corporations, universities, courts, po- dominated organizations would be well served litical bodies, cultural life, and other social col- to focus on variations in racialized logics, their lectives warrants their continuation. Neither common denominators, and the contexts of ra- equality nor integration are possible so long as cial homogeneity and homophily that may con- policy and law refrains from asking “whither strain or enable the rationalization and legiti- whiteness?” mation of those logics. We know little about What could be done differently? The United the precise reproductive mechanisms within States cannot effectively redress discrimina- the feedback loop between logics and condi-

rsf: the russell sage foundation journal of the social sciences whither wh iteness? 97 tions. Without more attention to how intersub- ders.” American Political Science Review 63(4): jectively shared racial logics create path depen- 1269–81. dencies of action and order (particularly toward Homans, George. 1974. The Nature of Social Science. the promotion of specific white racial inter- New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc. ests), and how unequal and segregated white Hughey, Matthew W. 2018a. “Of Riots and Racism: spaces promote the creation, maintenance, and Fifty Years since the Best Laid Schemes of the defense of racial logics, social science runs the Kerner Commission (1968–2018).” Sociological risk of missing the key apparatus and social Forum 39(3). DOI: 10.1111/socf.12436. processes by which larger inequities reproduce. ———. 2018b. “Schrödinger’s Whiteness.” Contexts With more knowledge of social reproduction 17(2): 17–19. in the commonplace ways of speaking and in- Jackson, Ronald L., II. 1999. “White Space, White teracting, we can better understand (and pos- Privilege: Mapping Discursive Inquiry into the sibly dismantle) the logics and spaces that Self.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 85(1): 38–54. function as co-­constitutive barriers to prac- Johnson, James H., and Walter C. Farrell Jr. 1992. tices, policies, and laws to address inequality “The Fire This Time: The Genesis of the Los An- and segregation. geles Rebellion of 1992.” North Carolina Law Re- view 71: 1403–20. R eferences Kerner Commission. 1968. Report of the National Altheide, David L., and Christopher J. Schneider. Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. Wash- 2013. Qualitative Media Analysis. Thousand Oaks, ington: Government Printing Offic­ e. Calif.: Sage Publications. Lichter, Daniel T., Domenico Parisi, and Michael C. Anderson, Elijah. 2015. “The White Space.” Sociol- Taquino. 2015. “Toward a New Macro-­ ogy of Race and Ethnicity 1(1): 10–21. Segregation? Decomposing Segregation Within Blumer, Herbert. 1954. “What Is Wrong with Social and Between Metropolitan Cities and Suburbs.” Theory?” American Sociological Review 19(1): American Sociological Review 80(4): 843–73. 3–10. Lipsky, Michael. 1971. “Social Scientists and the Riot Boger, John Charles. 1992. “Race and the American Commission.” Annals of the American Academy City: The Kerner Commission in Retrospective— of Political and Social Science 394(1): 72–78. An Introduction.” North Carolina Law Review 71: Lipsky, Michael, and David J. Olson. 1977. Commis- 1290–350. sion Politics: The Processing of Racial Crisis in Bonilla-­Silva, Eduardo. 2003. “Racial Attitudes or America. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Racial Ideology? An Alternative Paradigm for Ex- Books. amining Actors’ Racial Views.” Journal of Political Loessberg, Rick. 2017. “Two Societies: The Writing Ideologies 8(1): 63–82. of the Summary of the Report of the National Calmore, John O. 1992. “Spatial Equality and the Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders.” Journal Kerner Commission Report: A Back-­to-­the-­Future of Urban History DOI: 10.1177/0096144216689 Essay.” North Carolina Law Review 71: 1487 087. Accessed April 24, 2018. http://journals –518. .sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00961442166 Carter, Gregg Lee. 1990. “Black Attitudes and the 89087. 1960s Black Riots: An Aggregate-L­ evel Analysis Logan, John, and Wenquan Zhang. 2011. “Global of the Kerner Commission’s ‘15 Cities’ Data.” So- Neighborhoods: New Evidence from Census ciological Quarterly 31(2): 269–86. 2010.” New York: Russell Sage Foundation and Douglass, Frederick. 1857. “West India Emancipa- American Communities Project of Brown Univer- tion.” Speech delivered August 3, 1857, Canan- sity. daigua, New York. Accessed April 24, 2018. MacDonald, John, Jeffrey Fagan, and Amanda Geller. http://rbscp.lib.rochester.edu/4398. 2016. “The Effects of Local Police Surges on Du Bois, W. E. B. 1903. The Souls of Black Folk. Chi- Crime and Arrests in New York City.” PLoS ONE cago: A.C. McClurg & Co. 11(6): e0157223. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.015 Fogelson, Robert M., Gordon S. Black, and Michael 7223. Lipsky. 1969. “Review Symposium Report of the Marx, Gary. 1970. “Two Cheers for the National Riot National Advisory Commission on Civil Disor- (Kerner) Commission Report.” In Black Ameri-

rsf: the russell sage foundation journal of the social sciences 98 fiftieth ann iversary of the kerner report

cans: A Second Look, edited by J. F. Szwed. New Low-­Income Blacks.” North Carolina Law Review York: Basic Books. 71: 1519–56. Massey, Douglas S., and Jonathan Tannen. 2015. “A Smith, Tom W., Peter V. Marsden, Jeremy Freese, Research Note on Trends in Black Hypersegrega- and Michael Hout. 2017. General Social Survey, tion.” Demography 52(3): 1025–34. 1972–2016. [Machine-­readable data file]. Princi- Moore, Wendy Leo. 2008. Reproducing Racism: pal Investigator, Tom W. Smith; Co-P­ rincipal In- White Space, Elite Law Schools, and Racial In- vestigator, Peter V. Marsden; Co-P­ rincipal Investi- equality. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield. gator, Michael Hout; Sponsored by National Patterson, Orlando. 1989. “Toward a Study of Black Science Foundation, Chicago: National Opinion America.” Dissent Magazine Fall 1989: 476– Research Center at the University of Chicago 86. [producer and distributor]. Reed, Adolph, Jr. 2017. “The Kerner Commission and Social Service Review. 1968. “The Kerner Commis- the Irony of Antiracist Politics.” Labor: Studies in sion Report.” 42(2): 261–63. Working-­Class History of the Americas 14(4): Steinberg, Steven. 2007. Race Relations: A Critique. 3–38. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press. Ridgeway, Greg. 2007. Analysis of Racial Disparities Stoesz, David. 1992. “Poor Policy: The Legacy of the in the New York Police Department’s Stop, Ques- Kerner Commission for Social Welfare.” North tion, and Frisk Practices. Santa Monica, Calif.: Carolina Law Review 71: 1675–91. RAND Corporation. U.S. Congress. Senate Committee on Banking and Rosenbaum, James, Nancy Fishman, Alison Brett, Currency. 1967. Fair Housing Act of 1967: Hear- and Patricia Meaden. 1992. “Can the Kerner ings Before the Subcommittee on Housing and Commission’s Housing Strategy Improve Em- Urban Affairs. 90th Cong., 1st sess., August 21– ployment, Education, and Social Integration for 23, 1967.

rsf: the russell sage foundation journal of the social sciences