Former President Bill Clinton to Deliver Opening Address of "Kerner Plus 40" Symposium at Penn Feb. 28


PHILADELPHIA – Former President Bill Clinton will deliver the opening address of the “Kerner Plus 40” Symposium at 11 a.m., Feb. 28, in Irvine Auditorium, 3401 Spruce St., on the University of Pennsylvania campus.

A limited number of seats will be reserved for PennCard holders. Tickets, which are free, are required and will be available on a first come-first served basis Feb. 25-26 for PennCard holders only from the Annenberg Center for Performing Arts Box Office, 3680 Walnut St., only one ticket per person.

Sponsored by Penn’s Center for Africana Studies and Annenberg School for Communication and by the Institute for Advanced Journalism Studies at North Carolina A&T University, “Kerner Plus 40” marks the 40th anniversary of the 1968 report issued by the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, known as the Kerner Commission. The Commission was formed to assess the causes of race riots that occurred in U.S. cities during the 1960s. The Commission’s most chilling words came in its assessment that the nation was “moving toward two societies, one black, one white -- separate and unequal.”

Following Clinton’s opening address, the Symposium will continue at the Inn at Penn, 3600 Sansom St. The Symposium’s panels are free and open to the public.

“Kerner Plus 40” is part of the Center for Africana Studies’ spring 2008 event series. The complete Symposium program is available at http://www.kernerplus40.org/. The Symposium’s panels are free and open to the public, but attendees must register at http://www.kernerplus40.org/ or call 215-898-4965.