History of Philosophy Audio Archive DocDocs #4: The Riot Report: Lyndon Johnson, the Newark Riots, MLK/Malcolm X, the Kerner Commission, Redlining, Vietnam and Civil Rights, Militarized Police, Jimmy Baldwin, and the End of Jim Crow
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Music by Max John, Schubert, "Impromptu No. 3 in G-flat Major" - Creative Commons License, YouTube.
Sources Mentioned in This Episode:
I Am Not Your Negro (Raoul Peck)
Summary: This critically acclaimed documentary by Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished, using Baldwin's words to explore the history of racism in the United States through the lives and assassinations of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. It powerfully connects the past to the present, revealing the enduring legacy of racial injustice.
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration (Isabel Wilkerson)
Summary: Isabel Wilkerson's Pulitzer Prize-winning book chronicles the decades-long Great Migration of six million African Americans from the Jim Crow South to the North and West. Through the personal stories of three individuals, it illuminates the motivations, challenges, and profound impact of this internal exodus on American society.
The Fire Next Time (James Baldwin)
Summary: Published in 1963, this powerful book by James Baldwin consists of two essays that deeply examine race in America during the Civil Rights Movement. Baldwin's work is a passionate and personal exploration of the consequences of racial injustice, urging both Black and white Americans to confront the nation's racial legacy.
Killers of the Dream (Lillian Smith)
Summary: Lillian Smith's influential 1949 work offers a profound critique of segregation and its psychological impact on both white and Black Southerners. Smith, a white Southern liberal, bravely dissects the origins and effects of racism, arguing that it corrupts the human spirit and hinders societal progress.
Kerner Commission
Summary: Established in 1967 by President Lyndon B. Johnson, the Kerner Commission investigated the causes of the widespread race riots that erupted across American cities. Its 1968 report famously concluded that the nation was "moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal," pointing to systemic racism and lack of opportunity as root causes.
Office of Law Enforcement Assistance (1965-1968) / Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (1968-1982)
Link: Wikipedia - Office of Justice Programs (See section on Office of Law Enforcement Assistance)
Summary: The Office of Law Enforcement Assistance, and its successor the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, were federal agencies created to provide financial and technical assistance to state and local law enforcement agencies. These acts significantly shaped the modernization and militarization of police forces in the latter half of the 20th century.
G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century (Beverly Gage)
Link: Goodreads - G-Man
Summary: Beverly Gage's comprehensive biography of J. Edgar Hoover explores his unprecedented forty-eight-year tenure as director of the FBI and his profound impact on American governance, policing, and political culture. The book reveals how Hoover wielded immense power, shaped by his conservative values and deep-seated anticommunism and white supremacy.