Kerner Commission

Kerner Commission
Trikosko, Marion S., photographer · Public domain · source
Agency name	Kerner Commission
Formed	July 27, 1967
Dissolved	March 1, 1968
Jurisdiction	Federal government of the United States
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Chief1 name	Otto Kerner Jr.
Chief1 position	Chairman
Parent department	Executive Office of the President

Kerner Commission. The Kerner Commission, officially the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, was a presidential commission established by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1967 to investigate the causes of urban riots in the United States and to recommend solutions. Its controversial final report, issued in 1968, concluded that the nation was moving toward two separate and unequal societies, one black and one white, and placed primary blame on white racism and institutional failures. The commission's findings became a landmark document of the Civil Rights Movement, influencing decades of national discourse on race, poverty, and urban policy.

Background and Establishment

The immediate catalyst for the creation of the Kerner Commission was the wave of civil unrest that swept American cities during the "Long, hot summer of 1967". Major riots erupted in Newark and Detroit, resulting in dozens of deaths, thousands of injuries, and widespread property destruction. These events followed earlier disturbances in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles in 1965 and in other urban centers. Facing a national crisis, President Lyndon B. Johnson sought to understand the root causes of the violence and to propose federal actions to prevent future outbreaks. He established the commission by Executive Order 11365 on July 27, 1967, tasking it with answering three fundamental questions: what happened, why did it happen, and what could be done to prevent it from happening again. The commission's formation reflected the intense political pressure on the Johnson administration to address urban decay and racial tension, even as it continued to pursue its ambitious Great Society domestic agenda and grapple with the escalating Vietnam War.

Membership and Structure

President Johnson appointed 11 members to the commission, selecting a bipartisan group intended to lend credibility and a broad perspective to its work. The chairman was Otto Kerner Jr., the Democratic Governor of Illinois. The vice chairman was John V. Lindsay, the Republican Mayor of New York City. Other notable members included Senator Fred R. Harris (D-Oklahoma), Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Massachusetts), the first African American popularly elected to the United States Senate, and Roy Wilkins, the executive director of the NAACP. The commission also included representatives from law enforcement, business, and labor, such as Charles B. Thornton, CEO of Litton Industries. The commission was supported by a professional staff of social scientists, lawyers, and investigators who conducted extensive field research, held hearings in affected cities, and consulted with a wide range of experts on urban affairs, economics, and social psychology.

Key Findings and Conclusions

After seven months of intensive study, the Kerner Commission issued its final report on March 1, 1968. Its central and most explosive conclusion was that white racism was the fundamental cause of the urban violence. The report stated, "Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal." It rejected the notion that the riots were the work of outside agitators or a small criminal element, instead finding they were spontaneous outbursts of anger and frustration by residents of ghettos against oppressive conditions. The commission identified a complex of interrelated factors fueling the unrest: pervasive discrimination and segregation in employment, education, and housing; brutal and abrasive policing practices in minority neighborhoods; failed social service programs; sensationalist media coverage; and the despair created by chronic poverty and unemployment. The report was particularly critical of the responses by local police and the National Guard, noting that a disproportionate use of force often exacerbated the violence.

The "Two Societies" Report

The phrase "two societies" became the defining legacy of the Kerner Report. The commission documented in stark detail the systemic barriers that maintained racial segregation and inequality. It described how discriminatory practices by real estate agents (a practice known as redlining), restrictive covenants, and federal housing policies had created and reinforced racially segregated neighborhoods. This residential segregation, in turn, led to segregated and inferior schools, limited job opportunities, and inadequate municipal services. The report argued that these conditions constituted a destructive "environment" that was imposed on black Americans. It challenged the prevailing narrative of gradual progress, instead warning of a deepening racial divide that threatened the future social and political stability of the United States. This analysis directly linked the struggle for civil rights in the South to the economic and social justice demands emerging in Northern cities.

Recommendations and Proposed Reforms

The Kerner Commission proposed a sweeping and expensive set of recommendations aimed at reversing the trend toward "two societies." Its proposals called for a massive federal commitment—"programs on a scale equal to the dimension of the problems"—in what amounted to a Marshall Plan for American cities. Key recommendations included the creation of two million new jobs in the public and private sectors, the construction of six million new units of affordable housing over a five-year period, and the adoption of a federal guaranteed minimum income. In the realm of law enforcement, it urged major reforms to improve police-community relations, including recruiting more minority officers, establishing rigorous citizen complaint procedures, and providing better training in crowd control and civil rights. The report also called for enhanced and more equitable funding for public schools, expanded welfare benefits, and stronger enforcement of existing anti-discrimination laws in housing and employment.

Political and Public Reception

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