The Kerner report was the nation's first comprehensive look at race issues in the United States, and it was the federal government's first official document that said racism existed and was a problem. Our changing society The Kerner Commission only examined relations between blacks and whites, but many more colors now dot the landscape of U.S. society. And the landscape continues to change. Leaders from the Asian community say that stereotype comes from opponents of affirmative action and that it only serves to drive communities further apart. In Los Angeles County, the next census is expected to show people from Hispanic origins outnumbering whites.
Some blacks fear the city's growing Hispanic population is taking jobs away from their community.
Hispanics find that troubling. In 1992, riots again engulfed Los Angeles for days after a jury failed to convict police officers for the beating of motorist Rodney King. After the violence, a California think tank named RAND decided to look into whether race relations had changed in the city, which had long been a melting pot for a multitude of ethnicities. They're integrating economically and otherwise into majority society. The ones left behind are a real problem.