Last Witness: The Kerner Commission

Members of the Kerner Commission

Decades before our current debate over critical race theory, the 1968 Kerner Report pointed the finger at structural racism for creating the conditions that had triggered a series of protests in Black communities across the United States in the summer of 1967.

Former Senator Fred Harris is the last surviving member of the Kerner Commission, a group appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the protests and author the report.

This story is a part of our Last Witness series, audio portraits of the last surviving witnesses to major historical events. It was produced by Mycah Hazel and edited by Deborah George, Ben Shapiro and Joe Richman. Update: Senator Fred Harris died in November 2024 at the age of 94.