Ford reflects on the 50th anniversary of the Kerner Commission report, which documented the failings of the media to address the civil unrest in 1967 in Detroit, Newark, and elsewhere. 


Published in Columbia Journalism Review | March 5, 2018

Five decades after Kerner Report, representation remains an issue in media

By Darren Walker

AMERICA’S ALARMING DISUNION is evident any time you turn on the news or read the paper. But a recent survey commissioned by the Ford Foundation indicates that our disconnect goes beyond our political disagreements—that our division may be exacerbated by the makeup of our media.


Published in PBS News Hour | February 28, 2018

‘Plague of inequality’ haunts U.S. 50 years after a landmark study on racial division

By Judy Woodruff

This weeks marks the 50th anniversary of the Kerner Commission, a bipartisan assessment of race in America that revealed the nation to be both separate and unequal. A half century later, a new report takes stock of what we’ve begun to fix, and what still needs to be done. Hari Sreenivasan talks to the author of the new report, Fred Harris, and Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation.


Published in WDET.org | February 26, 2018

Farai Chideya: 50 Years After Kerner Commission, Are Media Still Failing to Tell Minority Stories?

By Stephen Henderson

Fifty years ago this month, a commission appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson issued a report that detailed the reasons and causes that led to the massive civil unrest and violence in Detroit and other cities the previous summer.

The Ford Foundation

The Ford Foundation is an independent organization working to address inequality and build a future grounded in justice. For more than 85 years, it has supported visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide, guided by its mission to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. Today, with an endowment of $16 billion, the foundation has headquarters in New York and 10 regional offices across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

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