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I was pleased to chair a panel discussion in February on the “History, Origin and Legacy of the Kerner Commission” as part of the symposium held on the 50th anniversary of the Commission’s report organized by the Haas Institute at UC Berkeley, the Economic Policy Institute and the 21st Century Cities Initiative at Johns Hopkins. The panelists included Senator Fred Harris, the only surviving member of the Commission, Victor Palmieri, the Executive Director of the Commission and Jay Kriegel, Mayor John Lindsay’s liaison to the Commission. Mayor Lindsay was Vice-Chairman of the Commission.
Senator Harris opened by discussing his relationship with President Johnson, who appointed the Commission, and the unexpected, unanimous findings and recommendations made by a group of establishment figures from the private sector and the Congress. The Commission concluded that “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal.”
Equally stark was the Commission’s finding that “What white Americans have never fully understood—but what the Negro can never forget—is that white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it.”
Senator Harris, whose book of essays entitled “Healing our Divided Society” was published on the day of the panel, noted that a major impact on the individual Commissioners was their tours, broken up into teams, of a numHistory, Origin, and Legacy of the Kerner Commission John Koskinen ber of riot torn cities. The Commissioners met with residents in the riot areas, some of whom had participated in the disturbances, and were struck by the difficult conditions confronting those living in what the Commission called urban ghettos.
Jay Kriegel added that Mayor Lindsay and Senator Harris struck up a close, personal relationship and worked together to insure that the Commission accurately and adequately reported on what they learned about the causes of the riots and the recommended responses. Jay described how Mayor Lindsay had campaigned in lower-income areas and often walked the streets in those neighborhoods, talking with residents and demonstrating his commitment to try to improve conditions. As a result of his visible support, New York City had no riots when other cities did in 1967 and 1968.
Victor Palmieri discussed the process David Ginsburg, Executive Director of the Commission, used to have the Commissioners listen to every word of the report, discuss the proposed findings and recommendations and adjust them where appropriate. He also added that, in retrospect, he regretted that the report had not given credit to the President for the progress that had been made with the establishment of what were known as the Great Society programs.
One of the questions from the audience raised a concern about the gentrification going on in many urban areas resulting in long-time residents being pushed out of neighborhoods they have lived in for years, The problem is that, as property values rise with the resulting increase in property taxes, residents on fixed incomes are unable to remain in their homes. A possible solution I raised, which I proposed as deputy Mayor for Washington D.C., would be, in designated areas at risk, to set property taxes for long-term residents at either a fixed rate or allow the taxes to grow at a modest rate each year, keeping the house affordable. At the same time, the additional property taxes that would have been paid, would accrue as a lien against the property, to be paid to the taxing authority when the property, appreciated in value, was sold.
California, years ago, passed Proposition 13 which simply mandated for all home owners no matter how rich, that their property taxes could never go up more than a modest amount. Local governments and school systems, in effect, lost the increased revenue forever. But it has allowed lower income owners to remain in their homes as property values increase. The “Koskinen Plan” is an approach that accomplishes the same goal without denying municipalities much needed revenue. Various models assessing the impact of such a plan show that the lien resulting from the deferred taxes never exceeds the increase in the property value as long as there is not a significant decrease in the property’s value before sale.
As was noted throughout the conference, the consensus on the panel I moderated was that, while significant progress has been made in the past 50 years in areas such as housing, education, the media and public safety, much still remains to be done.
John Koskinen, johnkosk@aol.com, is the former Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service and served as the special assistant to the Deputy Executive Director of the Kerner Commission.
