The Kerner report delivered an indictment of “white society” for isolating and neglecting African Americans and urged legislation to promote racial integration and to enrich slums—primarily through the creation of jobs, job training programs, and decent housing. Johnson apparently believed these riots were planned by outside agitators and he hoped that the commission would confirm that. Instead, the Kerner report concluded that racism and economic inequality spurred the riots. "White society is deeply implicated in the ghetto," the 1968 report said. The Kerner report was the nation's first comprehensive look at race issues in the United States,

Johnson's executive order, which set up the commission, called for an investigation into "the origins of the recent major civil disorders in our cities, including the basic causes and factors leading to such disorders and the influence, if any, of organizations or individuals dedicated to the incitement or encouragement of violence." The order sought recommendations in three major areas: "Short term measures to prevent riots, better measures to contain riots once they begin, and long term measures to eliminate riots in the future." The commission's two immediate aims were "to control and repress black rioters using almost any available means," and to assure the white population that everything was in hand, even though the operative logistics of relying on local police with National Guard and federal troop back-up for use in urban class warfare "proved to be quite inadequate."

and it was the federal government's first official document that said racism existed and was a problem.

It was during the early stages of staff recruitment that commission Deputy Executive Director Victor H. Palmieri "described the process as a war strategy." And so he might, given the overwhelming presence within the com

Some topics in this essay:
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