ABSTRACT

Long remembered for its warning that the United States, divided by racism, was becoming “two societies, one black, one white – separate and unequal,” the report of the Kerner commission (National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders) made a landmark contribution to public debate in 1968. The paperback edition quickly became a bestseller that year, and even though it failed to influence Lyndon B. Johnson’s embattled presidency, it found a wide readership. This article examines the report in context, approaching it as an example of political narrative writing at a time when centrist, “establishment” liberals attempted to reconcile their rhetorical ideal of a democratic national purpose with the realities of racism. It considers how the report reframed the national story by positioning racial justice as the central test of democracy. And it assesses how far, in that light, it succeeded in renewing the idea of liberal national leadership.

摘要

克纳委员会（国家公民紊乱咨询委员会）的报告警告称，由于种族主义而分裂的美国正在变成“两个社会，一个黑人，一个白人——分离和不平等” 1968 年公开辩论。平装版在当年迅速成为畅销书，尽管它未能影响林登·约翰逊 (Lyndon B. Johnson) 陷入困境的总统职位，但它找到了广泛的读者群。本文在上下文中检查该报告，将其作为政治叙事写作的一个例子，当时中间派，“建制派”自由主义者试图调和他们的民主国家目标的修辞理想与种族主义的现实。它考虑了该报告如何通过将种族正义定位为民主的核心测试来重新构建国家故事。