“The Riot Report: PBS’s Democrat-Driven Reimagining” is the latest in their historical documentary series, “American Experience”. Its regretted conclusion? The radical-left 1967 government-issued report on race relations, dubbed the Kerner Commission Report, simply didn’t have enough impact. Predictably, it suggested billions of dollars spent on anti-poverty programs was pennies compared to what was truly required, painting two separate and unequal America’s – one black, one white.
The PBS feature was hardly surprising in its list of interviewees which included Elizabeth Hinton from Yale University, and Jelani Cobb, dean of Columbia Journalism School. Rather predictably, the program took aim at President Nixon – the go-to statement whenever liberals need a scapegoat.
Are we supposed to be surprised that Hinton spoke out against preventive policing? Probably not. This push against proactive policing, aimed at halting crime before it happens, comes across as another unjust and discriminatory set of rules that those in middle-class suburban and white communities wouldn’t tolerate. The Kerner Commission, Hinton declares, hoped to solve inner city “rebellions” by simply throwing more money at the problem.
Meanwhile, Columbia’s Cobb pointed out that the report prompted greater media diversity with coverage of urban issues achieving “more nuance, and more balance”. This obviously means that the reporting took on an even more biased, liberal perspective.
Despite Cobb’s appearance on PBS in 2023 suggesting that self-hatred and “white supremacy” could have been the motivation for the black police officers who killed Tyre Nichols, this argument feels wild and unsupported.
Surprisingly, Robert Kennedy, earmarked for the presidency in 1968, received high praises. According to liberal historian John Powell from UC Berkeley Othering & Belonging Institute, Kennedy cared deeply about the country and marginalized communities.
Naturally, the producers picked their usual villain – President Richard Nixon. Nixon argued that we’d seen an inglorious return from government programs catered to the unemployed, cities, and the poor, declaring it was time to stop throwing money at failing initiatives.
Unsurprisingly, Hinton didn’t appreciate Nixon dropping Lyndon Johnson’s social welfare agenda. Instead, she lamented over Nixon seizing on the punitive elements and expanding them, resulting in more assertive police methods and tougher sentencing policies.
Then there’s David Boesel, a commission staffer who claimed the riots initiated a “racially conservative political era,” entirely pleasing the white citizens.
Remarkably, Columbia’s Cobb praised the leftist-cherished Kerner Report, referring to the 1992 Los Angeles’ Rodney King “uprisings”.
Looking back at the PBS’s “The Riot Report,” it’s clear that their biased, liberal perspective didn’t entertain any alternative viewpoints, including that Richard Nixon proposed an earlier form of Universal Basic Income and wound up expanding welfare state. This, however, didn’t fit into their preconceived narrative, and thus was conveniently ignored. So much for upholding journalistic integrity.
