Research Proposal

Uncertain Progress: South LA Since the 1968 Kerner Commission Report

Despite some notable gains in civil rights since the 1960s, racial economic inequality remains a persistent issue facing the US and the Los Angeles region. The project’s foci are to examine what progress has (or has not) been made since the 1965 Watts Riots in South Los Angeles, to document how the nature of socioeconomic stratification has transformed, and to assess outcomes relative to  the recommendations made by the Kerner Commission and California’s McCone Report on employment, housing, and education. The 50^th anniversary of the Kerner report in 2018 provides an opportunity to highlight current challenges. This project’s goal is to contribute to a renewed policy discussion on what governmental actions are required to address systemic disparities through a detailed quantitative examination of the patterns, magnitude, and trajectories of these phenomena in South LA from 1965 to present. This project builds on existing research projects by the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge around the topics of economic inequality, gentrification and displacement in Los Angeles. The project is supported by multiple sources of funding.