New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wants a government commission to be one of Oprah's Favorite Things.
Kristof has been writing a series of columns on racism since Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Missouri. In part five of "When Whites Just Don't Get It," the author suggests that the government create a 9/11-style fact-finding commission:
We feud about the fires in Ferguson, Mo., and we can agree only that racial divisions remain raw. So let's borrow a page from South Africa and impanel a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to examine race in America.
The model should be the 9/11 commission or the Warren Commission on President Kennedy's assassination, and it should hold televised hearings and issue a report to help us understand ourselves. Perhaps it could be led by the likes of Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush and Oprah Winfrey. [...]
A new commission could jump-start an overdue national conversation and also recommend evidence-based solutions to boost educational outcomes, improve family cohesion and connect people to jobs. [The New York Times]
Read Kristof's full column at The New York Times.