Still Not “One Nation, Indivisible”: 50 Years after the Kerner Report

Loud & Clear

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Dr. Alice Bonner, a docent at the newly opened National Museum of African American History and Culture and retired professor at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, who wrote her dissertation on the Kerner Report, and Dr. Jared Ball a professor of communication studies at Morgan State University and the author of “I MiX What I Like: A MiXtape Manifesto” and you can find his writings at www.IMixWhatILike.org.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the Kerner Commission report, a stunning acknowledgement of the oppression that the black community had been through and the causes of the rebellions in the recent years. President Lyndon Johnson established the commission, headed up by Illinois Governor Otto Kerner. The hosts talk about the Kerner Commission’s legacy and whether the horrific conditions and causes of the ‘60s rebellions have yet been addressed.
“Criminal Injustice” continues today, about the most egregious conduct of our courts and prosecutors and how justice is denied to so many people in this country. Kevin Gosztola, a writer for Shadowproof.com and co-host of the podcast Unauthorized Disclosure, and Paul Wright, the founder and Executive Director of the Human Rights Defense Center and editor of Prison Legal News (PLN), join the show.
At a meeting with U.S. industry officials at the White House, Trump vowed to rebuild American steel and aluminum industries, saying they had been treated unfairly by other countries for decades. Brian and John speak with Steve Keen, the author of “Debunking Economics” and the world’s first crowdfunded economist, whose work is at patreon.com/ProfSteveKeen.
Wall Street bankers are pushing for a significant loosening of the Volcker Rule, a part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that restricts certain kinds of speculative investments that do not benefit customers. Brad Birkenfeld, a whistleblower who exposed billions of dollars of financial fraud committed by banking giant UBS and the author of “Lucifer’s Banker: The Untold Story of How I Destroyed Swiss Bank Secrecy,” with writings at lucifersbanker.com, joins the show.
President Trump told a group of senators yesterday that he favored stronger background checks for gun purchasers and was open to the idea of raising to 21 the age necessary to buy a gun. The National Rifle Association, in the meantime, was lobbying hard on Capitol Hill to either kill or water down any new firearm legislation. Dr. Wilmer Leon, a political scientist, author, and host of a nationally broadcast talk radio show on Sirius/XM channel 126, and Robert Koehler, an award-winning journalist, nationally syndicated writer, and the author of the book “Courage Grows Strong at the Wound,” join Brian and John.
Russian President Vladimir Putin today laid out his key policies ahead of a presidential election that he is expected to win in 17 days. He also made the bombshell announcement that Russia has developed a cruise missile that can reach anywhere in the world, can carry a nuclear warhead, and is impossible to shoot down. Alexander Mercouris, the editor in chief of The Duran, joins the show.
White House Communications Director Hope Hicks resigned yesterday hours after testifying on Capitol Hill in the Russia investigation. Hicks is only one of more than two dozen senior White House officials who have resigned in the past year. Meanwhile, Attorney General Sessions responded tersely to President Trump’s angry tweet about his handling of the investigation and to Trump’s comparison of Sessions to the cartoon character Mr. Magoo.