Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders

The summer of 1967 again brought racial disorders to American cities, and with them shock, fear and bewilderment to the nation. The worst came during a two-week period in July, first in Newark and then in Detroit. Each set off a chain reaction in neighboring communities. On July 28, 1967, the President of the United States [Lyndon B. Johnson] established this Commission and directed us to answer three basic questions:

What happened?

Why did it happen?

What can be done to prevent it from happening again?

This is our basic conclusion: Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white--separate and unequal. This deepening racial division is not inevitable. The movement apart can be reversed. Choice is still possible. Our principal task is to define that choice and to press for a national resolution.

By : National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders

01 - Summary, part 1 02 - Summary, part 2 03 - Summary, part 3 04 - Summary, part 4 05 - Preface 06 - Ch 1 Profiles of Disorder: Introduction 07 - Ch 1 Profiles of Disorder: Tampa 08 - Ch 1 Profiles of Disorder: Cincinnati 09 - Ch 1 Profiles of Disorder: Atlanta 10 - Ch 1 Profiles of Disorder: Newark 11 - Ch 1 Profiles of Disorder: Northern New Jersey 12 - Ch 1 Profiles of Disorder: Plainfield and New Brunswick 13 - Ch 1 Profiles of Disorder: Detroit, part 1 14 - Ch 1 Profiles of Disorder: Detroit, part 2 15 - Ch 1 Profiles of Disorder: Detroit, part 3 16 - Ch 1 Profiles of Disorder: Detroit, part 4, Methodology 17 - Ch 2 Patterns of Disorder: Introduction, The Pattern of Violence and Damage 18 - Ch 2 Patterns of Disorder: The Riot Process 19 - Ch 2 Patterns of Disorder: The Riot Participant 20 - Ch 2 Patterns of Disorder: The Background of Disorder 21 - Ch 2 Patterns of Disorder: The Aftermath of Disorder 22 - Ch 3 Organized Activity 23 - Ch 4 The Basic Causes 24 - Ch 5 Rejection and Protest: An Historical Sketch part 1 25 - Ch 5 Rejection and Protest: An Historical Sketch part 2 26 - Ch 5 Rejection and Protest: An Historical Sketch part 3 27 - Ch 5 Rejection and Protest: An Historical Sketch part 4 28 - Ch 6 The Formation of the Racial Ghettos 29 - Ch 7 Unemployment, Family Structure and Social Disorganization, part 1 30 - Ch 7 Unemployment, Family Structure and Social Disorganization, part 2 31 - Ch 8 Conditions of Life in the Racial Ghetto 32 - Ch 9 Comparing the Immigrant and Negro Experience 33 - Ch 10 The Community Response, part 1 34 - Ch 10 The Community Response, part 2 35 - Ch 11 Police and the Community, part 1 36 - Ch 11 Police and the Community, part 2 37 - Ch 11 Police and the Community, part 3 38 - Ch 12 Control of Disorder, part 1 39 - Ch 12 Control of Disorder, part 2 40 - Ch 13 The Administration of Justice Under Emergency Conditions, part 1 41 - Ch 13 The Administration of Justice Under Emergency Conditions, part 2 42 - Ch 13 The Administration of Justice Under Emergency Conditions, part 3 43 - Ch 14 Damages: Repair and Compensation 44 - Ch 15 The News Media and The Disorders, part 1 45 - Ch 15 The News Media and The Disorders, part 2 46 - Ch 15 The News Media and The Disorders, part 3 47 - Ch 15 The News Media and The Disorders, part 4 48 - Ch 16 The Future of the Cities, part 1 49 - Ch 16 The Future of the Cities, part 2 50 - Ch 17 Recommendations for National Action, part 1 51 - Ch 17 Recommendations for National Action, part 2 52 - Ch 17 Recommendations for National Action, part 3 53 - Ch 17 Recommendations for National Action, part 4 54 - Ch 17 Recommendations for National Action, part 5 55 - Ch 17 Recommendations for National Action, part 6 56 - Ch 17 Recommendations for National Action, part 7 57 - Ch 17 Recommendations for National Action, part 8 58 - Ch 17 Recommendations for National Action, part 9 59 - Conclusion 60 - Supplement on Control of Disorder: The Police 61 - Supplement on Control of Disorder: Fire Departments 62 - Supplement on Control of Disorder: State Response 63 - Supplement on Control of Disorder: Army Response 64 - Supplement on Control of Disorder: Coordinating the Control Response, part 1 65 - Supplement on Control of Disorder: Coordinating the Control Response, part 2 66 - Supplement on Control of Disorder: Legal Needs for Riot Control 67 - Other Supplements: Attorney General Letter, Constitution, Timeline 68 - Appendices A-C

The commission's final report, the Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders or Kerner Report, was released on February 29, 1968, after seven months of investigation. The report became an instant bestseller, and over two million Americans bought copies of the 426-page document. Its finding was that the riots resulted from black frustration at the lack of economic opportunity. Martin Luther King Jr. pronounced the report a "physician's warning of approaching death, with a prescription for life."

The report berated federal and state governments for failed housing, education and social-service policies. The report also aimed some of its sharpest criticism at the media. "The press has too long basked in a white world looking out of it, if at all, with white men's eyes and white perspective."

The report's most famous passage warned, "Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal." The report was a strong indictment of white America: "What white Americans have never fully understood but what the Negro can never forget — is that white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it."

Its results suggested that one main cause of urban violence was white racism and suggested that white America bore much of the responsibility for black rioting and rebellion. It called to create new jobs, construct new housing, and put a stop to de facto segregation in order to wipe out the destructive ghetto environment. In order to do so, the report recommended for government programs to provide needed services, to hire more diverse and sensitive police forces and, most notably, to invest billions in housing programs aimed at breaking up residential segregation.

Among other points, the commission's suggestions included:

"Unless there are sharp changes in the factors influencing Negro settlement patterns within metropolitan areas, there is little doubt that the trend toward Negro majorities will continue."

"Providing employment for the swelling Negro ghetto population will require ...opening suburban residential areas to Negroes and encouraging them to move closer to industrial centers..."

"...cities will have Negro majorities by 1985 and the suburbs ringing them will remain largely all white unless there are major changes in Negro fertility rates, in migration settlement patterns or public policy."

"...we believe that the emphasis of the program should be changed from traditional publicly built slum based high rise projects to smaller units on scattered sites."

The Law Enforcement Assistance Administration released federal funding for local police forces in response. Appointed by Johnson to serve as the commission's executive director, David Ginsburg played a pivotal role in writing the commission's findings.