Report Updates Landmark 1968 Racism Study. Finds More Poverty, Segregation
"Whoever thought that 50 years later, we'd still be talking about the same things? That's kinda sad," Kerner Commission member Fred Harris said.
In 1967, over 100 cities, large and small, exploded in fire and violence, the result of decades of discrimination against black populations in places like Cleveland, Nashville, Boston and Newark. The biggest riot at the time was in Detroit. After five days of rioting, 33 blacks and 10 whites were dead and property damage totaled more than $100 million.
Unnerved by the scale of Detroit's unrest, and anxious to find the root causes of the violence, President Lyndon Johnson announced to the nation that he'd , the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. The 11-person group would be headed by Otto Kerner, then governor of Illinois. Its
