To understand why we are offering the Divided Baltimore course, and especially why a historical context is necessary, one need only reflect on the Kerner Commission Report of 1968, excerpts from which follow here:

From the 1968 Kerner Commission Report on civil disorder came the following Recommendations for National Action:*

Introduction
            No American—white or black—can escape the consequences of the continuing social and economic decay of our major cities.
Only a commitment to national action on an unprecedented scale can shape a future compatible with the historic ideals of American society.
The great productivity of our economy, and a federal revenue system which is highly responsive to economic growth, can provide the resources.
The major need is to generate new will—the will to tax ourselves to the extent necessary to meet the vital needs of the nation.
We have set forth goals and proposed strategies to reach these goals. We discuss and recommend programs not to commit each of us to specific parts of such programs but to illustrate the type and dimension of action needed.
The major goal is the creation of a true nation—a single society and singe American identity. Toward that goal, we propose the following objectives for national action:

>Opening up opportunities to those who are restricted by racial segregation and discrimination, and eliminating all barriers to their choice of jobs education and housing.
            >Removing the frustration of powerlessness among the disadvantaged by providing the means for them to deal with the problems that affect their own lives and by increasing the capacity of our public and private institutions to respond to these problems.
            >Increasing communication cross racial lines to destroy stereotypes, to halt polarization, and end distrust and hostility, and create common ground for efforts toward public order and social justice.

We propose these aims to fulfill our pledge of equality and to meet the fundamental needs of a democratic and civilized society—domestic peace and social justice.
…

Conclusion
            One of the first witnesses to be invited to appear before this Commission was Dr. Kenneth B. Clark, a distinguished and perceptive scholar. Referring to reports of earlier riot commissions, he said:

           I read that report … of the 1919 riot in Chicago, and it is as if I were reading the report of the investigating committee on the Harlem riot of ’35, the report of the investigating committee on the Harem riot of ’43, the report of the McCone Commission on the Watts riot [of 1965].
         I must again in candor say to you members of this commission—it is a kind of Alice in Wonderland—with the same moving picture re-shown over and over again, the same analysis, the same recommendations, and the same inaction.

These words come to our minds as we conclude this report.
We have provided an honest beginning. We have learned much. But we have uncovered no startling truths, no unique insights, no simple solutions. The destruction and the bitterness of racial disorder, the harsh polemics of black revolt and white repression have been seen and heard before in this country.
It is time now to end the destruction and the violence, not only in the streets of the ghetto but in the lives of people.

*Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. New York: Bantam Books, 1968, pp. 23-29.