1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,800 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:17,400 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly fry Back. In 4 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:22,639 Speaker 1: early our colleague Christopher Hasiotis sent an email around to 5 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:25,720 Speaker 1: a bunch of us at work suggesting that one of 6 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 1: us cover the Kerner Commission Report. At that point, the 7 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:34,360 Speaker 1: reports fiftieth anniversary was just a few weeks away. But 8 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:38,760 Speaker 1: the basic conclusion of this report, which is probably the 9 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:42,360 Speaker 1: most widely quoted thing out of it that still felt 10 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:45,720 Speaker 1: really relevant, that was quote, our nation is moving towards 11 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:51,680 Speaker 1: two societies, one black, one white, separate and unequal um. 12 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:54,880 Speaker 1: So at that point, all of our episodes between getting 13 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:57,920 Speaker 1: this email from Christopher and the anniversary of the report 14 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:01,160 Speaker 1: coming out, uh, those were already spoken for. So it 15 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:04,200 Speaker 1: didn't make it into the calendar. And then last year 16 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:07,480 Speaker 1: the report made headlines again in the wake of the 17 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:11,920 Speaker 1: international protests against racism and police brutality that followed the 18 00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:15,440 Speaker 1: murder of George Floyd, and for various reasons, it just 19 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:18,560 Speaker 1: didn't get into the calendar at that point either. Uh. 20 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:22,040 Speaker 1: In this July though, just this past July, listener Taylor 21 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:24,720 Speaker 1: sent us a note after seeing a very brief, as 22 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:29,280 Speaker 1: in three paragraphs post about this on Instagram, and Taylor 23 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:33,840 Speaker 1: noted once again that this report as just ongoing relevance, 24 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 1: this time in the context of the backlash against what 25 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:41,360 Speaker 1: some people are calling critical race theory. To be clear, 26 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:44,800 Speaker 1: the backlash is not against actual critical race theory. It's 27 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:48,000 Speaker 1: become just like catch all descriptor for any conversations about 28 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:52,600 Speaker 1: racism that somebody doesn't like. A new condensed version of 29 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:55,160 Speaker 1: this report also came out just last month, so there's 30 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:58,000 Speaker 1: been some talk around it in that context. So it 31 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:00,840 Speaker 1: seemed like finally, finally, time I'm getting it into the 32 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: calendar for real after three years of people asking about it. 33 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:10,000 Speaker 1: The Kerner Commission was formally known as the National Advisory 34 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:13,840 Speaker 1: Commission on Civil Disorders. It was established by President Lyndon 35 00:02:13,919 --> 00:02:17,040 Speaker 1: Johnson during a period of widespread unrest in the United 36 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:21,400 Speaker 1: States beginning in the early nineteen sixties. Between nineteen sixty 37 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:23,840 Speaker 1: five and nineteen sixty seven, there were more than three 38 00:02:23,919 --> 00:02:27,680 Speaker 1: hundred incidents in more than two hundred fifty cities. They 39 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:30,240 Speaker 1: varied in how long and how severe they were, but 40 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:34,360 Speaker 1: they were mostly described as riots. Today, they are sometimes 41 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:38,120 Speaker 1: characterized more as uprisings because they developed in response to 42 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:42,520 Speaker 1: ongoing racism and oppression. To quote from the report, the 43 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:46,840 Speaker 1: civil disorders of nineteen sixty seven involved Negroes acting against 44 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:51,240 Speaker 1: local symbols of white American society, authority, and property in 45 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:56,280 Speaker 1: Negro neighborhoods, rather than against white persons. One of the 46 00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:59,680 Speaker 1: most well known incidents from the beginning of this period 47 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:02,400 Speaker 1: of time time took place in the Watts neighborhood of 48 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:06,480 Speaker 1: Los Angeles from August eleven through sixteenth, nineteen sixty five. 49 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:09,720 Speaker 1: This started after the arrest of twenty one year old 50 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:14,840 Speaker 1: Marquette Fry for suspected drunk driving. A crowd gathered during 51 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:19,080 Speaker 1: this arrest, and Fry and police physically struggled. Accounts on 52 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:23,480 Speaker 1: exactly what happened during this struggle are really contradictory. During 53 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:26,960 Speaker 1: the commotion that followed, rumors also spread that police had 54 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:31,760 Speaker 1: assaulted a pregnant woman. The details of this are also contradictory, 55 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:35,720 Speaker 1: although many accounts described one woman being arrested while wearing 56 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:40,360 Speaker 1: a billowing smock that made her appear pregnant. Regardless, these 57 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:44,080 Speaker 1: arrests and the rumors surrounding them tipped off multiple days 58 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:47,640 Speaker 1: of violence and arson in Watts At least thirty four 59 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 1: people died and more than a thousand were injured, most 60 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 1: of them Black residents of the neighborhood. Hundreds of buildings 61 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:58,120 Speaker 1: burned to the ground. Incidents like this really seemed to 62 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 1: reach a peak. In the summer of nine seen sixties seven, 63 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:05,000 Speaker 1: which was nicknamed the Long Hot Summer. Violence broke out 64 00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:09,040 Speaker 1: in predominantly black neighborhoods of multiple cities in the US, 65 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:12,680 Speaker 1: and sometimes this violence went on for days, escalating in 66 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:16,360 Speaker 1: intensity from things like looting and throwing rocks and bottles 67 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 1: and vandalism to arson and gunfire, including sniper fire. The 68 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:25,400 Speaker 1: National Guard was called out in cities like Tampa, Cincinnati, 69 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:29,320 Speaker 1: in Atlanta to try to restore order. These uprisings were 70 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:33,760 Speaker 1: national news, part of an ongoing developing story that characterized 71 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:37,920 Speaker 1: the whole country as being nearly consumed by rioting. It 72 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 1: was during this period that Miami Police Chief Walter Headley 73 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:44,520 Speaker 1: used the phrase quote when the looting starts, the shooting starts. 74 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:48,640 Speaker 1: But in July twelfth, in Newark, New Jersey, a black 75 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:51,680 Speaker 1: cab driver named John Smith was pulled over for a 76 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:56,920 Speaker 1: traffic violation and was beaten by police. Later, witnesses saw 77 00:04:57,040 --> 00:05:00,560 Speaker 1: him being pulled from a police car and basically dragged 78 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:04,039 Speaker 1: into the precinct headquarters. He apparently was not able to 79 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:07,800 Speaker 1: walk on his own. Rumors spread that he had been 80 00:05:07,839 --> 00:05:11,800 Speaker 1: beaten nearly to death or even killed. When civil rights 81 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:15,359 Speaker 1: leaders were allowed to see Smith and jail, they felt 82 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:17,640 Speaker 1: that his injuries called for a medical exam, and they 83 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 1: demanded that he'd be taken to a hospital. Tensions between 84 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:23,960 Speaker 1: the black residents of New Work and the predominantly white 85 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:28,880 Speaker 1: police force escalated rapidly, with residents marches and demonstrations being 86 00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:35,000 Speaker 1: met by increasing numbers of officers. This progressed to looting, fires, gunshots, 87 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:39,200 Speaker 1: with police implementing roadblocks and mass arrests, and the National 88 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:42,680 Speaker 1: Guard being called out to try to restore order. At 89 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:46,440 Speaker 1: least twenty six people were killed in Newark between July 90 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:50,920 Speaker 1: twelfth and seventeenth, including one white detective, one white fireman, 91 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:54,920 Speaker 1: and at least twenty four black residents. Several of them 92 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:58,320 Speaker 1: were children or teenagers. Some of the people who were 93 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:01,320 Speaker 1: killed were shot by police eats, or by the National 94 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:04,839 Speaker 1: Guard while they were in their own homes or vehicles. 95 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:08,520 Speaker 1: In some cases, these were stray bullets and in others, 96 00:06:08,839 --> 00:06:12,239 Speaker 1: they were shooting at places they thought snipers were hiding. 97 00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:16,919 Speaker 1: Somewhere between seven hundred and a thousand people were injured 98 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:20,240 Speaker 1: during all of this, and hundreds of fires and other 99 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:24,760 Speaker 1: destruction around the city caused roughly ten million dollars in damage. Then, 100 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:29,800 Speaker 1: in Detroit, Michigan, on July, police rated several after hours 101 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:33,479 Speaker 1: drinking clubs, which were known as blind pigs. That nickname 102 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:37,279 Speaker 1: probably comes from the Prohibition era, when proprietors would charge 103 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:39,480 Speaker 1: money to see an animal like a pig, and then 104 00:06:39,839 --> 00:06:42,880 Speaker 1: throw in the alcohol for free to skirt the law. 105 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:47,120 Speaker 1: We're not selling alcohol, We're selling viewings of pigs. Police 106 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:49,960 Speaker 1: arrested roughly eighty people in these raids. Most of those 107 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:52,760 Speaker 1: people were black. Some of them had been celebrating the 108 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:56,520 Speaker 1: return of two veterans from the Vietnam War, much like 109 00:06:56,640 --> 00:06:59,480 Speaker 1: what had happened in Newark less than two weeks earlier. 110 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:04,240 Speaker 1: These arrests set off increasing confrontations between residents and police, 111 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:10,160 Speaker 1: progressing to vandalism, looting, and arson. Civilian snipers fired from 112 00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:14,000 Speaker 1: rooftops and the thefts of large numbers of firearms from 113 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:17,440 Speaker 1: looted stores made this whole situation seem even more threatening 114 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:21,920 Speaker 1: police started making mass arrests. The National Guard was called 115 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:26,360 Speaker 1: out once again, and President Johnson actually sent in army troops. 116 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:31,720 Speaker 1: Between July July, at least forty three people were killed 117 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:34,600 Speaker 1: in Detroit, thirty three of them black and ten white. 118 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:38,080 Speaker 1: Some of the civilians killed were by standards or were 119 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:41,080 Speaker 1: in their own homes or vehicles, but many were either 120 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:45,720 Speaker 1: looting or fleeing from looting. Later analysis has suggested that 121 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:49,239 Speaker 1: law enforcement's use of deadly force in response to looting 122 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:53,760 Speaker 1: became increasingly indiscriminate and random as the uprising went on, 123 00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:59,120 Speaker 1: with reports characterizing the deaths as overwhelmingly needless. More than 124 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:03,640 Speaker 1: drid buildings were also burned down during those six days. 125 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:08,000 Speaker 1: In Detroit, firefighters had to withdraw repeatedly as they were 126 00:08:08,040 --> 00:08:11,800 Speaker 1: attacked or caught in crossfire or pinned down by snipers 127 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:14,920 Speaker 1: while they were trying to fight the fires. About five 128 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:19,559 Speaker 1: thousand Detroit residents were left homeless. These uprisings in both 129 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:24,640 Speaker 1: Newark and Detroit also sparked similar incidents in surrounding cities 130 00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:28,320 Speaker 1: in New Jersey, Michigan, and Ohio. By this point, the 131 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:31,880 Speaker 1: president was under huge pressure to take action. On the 132 00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:36,000 Speaker 1: morning of July ninety seven, Johnson told his staff that 133 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:39,280 Speaker 1: that night he would be announcing a commission to investigate 134 00:08:39,320 --> 00:08:42,880 Speaker 1: these incidents. The members of this commission were selected and 135 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:46,640 Speaker 1: contacted over roughly the next ten hours, with the commission's 136 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:50,800 Speaker 1: funding coming from the President's Emergency Fund. The following day, 137 00:08:50,880 --> 00:08:55,040 Speaker 1: he issued Executive Order one one three six five establishing 138 00:08:55,120 --> 00:08:59,400 Speaker 1: a National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, which specified that 139 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:02,400 Speaker 1: the Commission would issue an interim report by March first, 140 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:06,439 Speaker 1: nine eight, with a final report do not later than 141 00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:09,520 Speaker 1: one year from the date of the order. The commission 142 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:14,280 Speaker 1: had eleven members, intentionally selected to be bipartisan and to 143 00:09:14,360 --> 00:09:19,440 Speaker 1: represent multiple viewpoints for we're members of Congress to Republicans 144 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:23,439 Speaker 1: and two Democrats. Business leader Charles B. Thornton, known as 145 00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:26,440 Speaker 1: Tex was on the commission, as was labor leader I 146 00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:29,480 Speaker 1: w Abel, who was president of the United steel Workers 147 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:32,840 Speaker 1: of America. Since many of the questions that the commission 148 00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:35,640 Speaker 1: was trying to answer were related to policing, one of 149 00:09:35,679 --> 00:09:39,360 Speaker 1: its members was Atlanta Chief of Police Herbert Jenkins. The 150 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:44,000 Speaker 1: commission had only two black members, Roy Wilkins, executive director 151 00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:47,200 Speaker 1: of the nub A c P, and Edward W. Brook, 152 00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:51,760 Speaker 1: Republican Senator from Massachusetts. It also had only one woman, 153 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:56,640 Speaker 1: Kentucky Commissioner of Commerce, Catherine Graham Paton. The commission's chair 154 00:09:56,920 --> 00:10:00,880 Speaker 1: was Otto Kerner, Junior Governor of Illinois, and his name, 155 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:04,040 Speaker 1: of course, is the one that became most associated with 156 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:07,280 Speaker 1: the commission and its work. But the vice chair, New 157 00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:10,920 Speaker 1: York City Mayor John Lindsay, became far more involved in 158 00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:14,240 Speaker 1: setting the commission's direction and its scope. And we're going 159 00:10:14,280 --> 00:10:17,240 Speaker 1: to talk more about the committee itself after we pause 160 00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:30,640 Speaker 1: for a sponsor break. Establishing the National Advisory Commission on 161 00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:34,920 Speaker 1: Civil Disorders was a strategic move for President Lyndon Johnson. 162 00:10:35,559 --> 00:10:39,840 Speaker 1: The commission's stated purpose was to determine what happened, why 163 00:10:39,920 --> 00:10:42,400 Speaker 1: it happened, and what could be done to prevent it 164 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:47,040 Speaker 1: from happening again. But beyond that, establishing a commission let 165 00:10:47,080 --> 00:10:50,960 Speaker 1: the President look like he was taking action without actually 166 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:55,920 Speaker 1: having to take any specific action yet, especially without having 167 00:10:55,960 --> 00:10:59,040 Speaker 1: to take any action that might jeopardize or pull focus 168 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:03,160 Speaker 1: from his existing at agenda. After all, this commission's deadline 169 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:06,440 Speaker 1: for preliminary findings was months away when he announced it, 170 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:10,800 Speaker 1: so it was possible, maybe not likely, but possible, that 171 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:13,520 Speaker 1: by that point things would no longer seem so urgent. 172 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:17,400 Speaker 1: Even though the Commission was pulled together over a single day, 173 00:11:17,679 --> 00:11:21,920 Speaker 1: Its members had also been chosen very strategically. Nobody on 174 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:25,880 Speaker 1: it was seen as particularly radical. Although Roy Wilkins was 175 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:28,800 Speaker 1: executive director of the Double a c P. The a 176 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:32,400 Speaker 1: CP was seen as far more conservative than organizations that 177 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:35,880 Speaker 1: had arisen along with the Black Power movement. There were 178 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:40,240 Speaker 1: no academics, There were no black nationalists, no militants. There 179 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:43,560 Speaker 1: were also no young people. On average, the civilians who 180 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:47,600 Speaker 1: had participated in violence or vandalism in these uprisings were 181 00:11:47,600 --> 00:11:50,440 Speaker 1: between the ages of fifteen and twenty five, but the 182 00:11:50,480 --> 00:11:52,920 Speaker 1: youngest member of the Commission was in his late thirties, 183 00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:56,920 Speaker 1: and most were decades older than that. Otto Kerner, Jr. 184 00:11:57,040 --> 00:12:00,480 Speaker 1: Was also a strategic choice to chair the commission. He 185 00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:02,880 Speaker 1: was hoping that the President would appoint him to a 186 00:12:02,920 --> 00:12:06,679 Speaker 1: federal judge ship, so Johnson thought Kerner would lead the 187 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:11,319 Speaker 1: commission towards findings that praised his existing initiatives and programs 188 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:14,600 Speaker 1: that included things like the Civil Rights Act that Johnson 189 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:17,520 Speaker 1: had signed into law in nineteen sixty four and the 190 00:12:17,559 --> 00:12:20,800 Speaker 1: set of reform programs known as the Great Society, which 191 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:24,800 Speaker 1: also connected to Johnson's War on Poverty. So he's hoping 192 00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:27,360 Speaker 1: that he's going to get a report that praises things 193 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:30,920 Speaker 1: like the establishment of Medicare and Medicaid, the Food Stamp 194 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:34,200 Speaker 1: Act of nineteen sixty four, the Economic Opportunity Act of 195 00:12:34,240 --> 00:12:38,400 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty four, Project head Start, the Elementary and Secondary 196 00:12:38,559 --> 00:12:41,439 Speaker 1: Education Act of nineteen sixty five, and the Housing and 197 00:12:41,559 --> 00:12:45,040 Speaker 1: Urban Development Act of nineteen sixty five. This did not 198 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:49,160 Speaker 1: work out according to Johnson's plan, though. Although the Commission 199 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:52,000 Speaker 1: was named for Kerner, as we said, New York City 200 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:54,560 Speaker 1: Mayor John Lindsay took a far bigger role in setting 201 00:12:54,559 --> 00:12:57,680 Speaker 1: its direction. And while the President had hoped the Commission 202 00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:01,360 Speaker 1: would basically rubber stamp his existing agent death, the Commission 203 00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:04,360 Speaker 1: instead did what the President had actually directed it to do. 204 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:07,920 Speaker 1: It examined what had happened, why it had happened, and 205 00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:11,200 Speaker 1: what steps could be taken to prevent it from happening again. 206 00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:15,839 Speaker 1: Members of the Commission personally toward cities where riots had 207 00:13:15,840 --> 00:13:19,479 Speaker 1: taken place. They spoke directly to people who were involved 208 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:24,240 Speaker 1: and affected. They heard witness testimony. They hired investigators, and 209 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:26,840 Speaker 1: built out a field team that worked under the guidance 210 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:32,520 Speaker 1: of Social scientists, including about twenty graduate student researchers. Advisory 211 00:13:32,600 --> 00:13:36,920 Speaker 1: panels provided knowledge on insurance in riot affected areas and 212 00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:40,720 Speaker 1: on private enterprise. While the members of the Commission were 213 00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:44,360 Speaker 1: mostly in their forties and up, the field team included 214 00:13:44,400 --> 00:13:46,839 Speaker 1: a lot of young activists. A lot of them had 215 00:13:46,880 --> 00:13:50,040 Speaker 1: been trained through or had otherwise participated in the civil 216 00:13:50,120 --> 00:13:55,240 Speaker 1: rights movement. This work yielded hundreds and hundreds of pages 217 00:13:55,320 --> 00:13:59,800 Speaker 1: of supplemental studies that were related to specific issues, which 218 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:03,040 Speaker 1: the Commission than had to work to distill down into 219 00:14:03,240 --> 00:14:07,479 Speaker 1: one report that would be unanimously acceptable to all of them. 220 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:10,440 Speaker 1: It was critically important to the Commission that like they 221 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:13,520 Speaker 1: have something they could all sign off on, Otherwise they 222 00:14:13,520 --> 00:14:16,559 Speaker 1: thought it would just be doomed to failure. Even though 223 00:14:16,600 --> 00:14:20,280 Speaker 1: they were all generally mainstream figures, they definitely did not 224 00:14:20,600 --> 00:14:24,120 Speaker 1: all agree on everything, so creating a document that they 225 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:26,320 Speaker 1: were all willing to sign off on took a huge 226 00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:30,160 Speaker 1: amount of revision and compromise. A big part of this 227 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:34,000 Speaker 1: process was David Ginsburg, the Commission's executive director, who was 228 00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:37,920 Speaker 1: head of the Commission's staff. He used the skills that 229 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:40,360 Speaker 1: he had honed as a lawyer to try to mediate 230 00:14:40,400 --> 00:14:44,680 Speaker 1: between commissioners, for example, between Text Thornton, who came from 231 00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:47,400 Speaker 1: a law and order mindset and thought the basic answer 232 00:14:47,480 --> 00:14:51,240 Speaker 1: to civil unrest was more policing, and John Lindsay, who 233 00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:54,920 Speaker 1: was more focused on improved social services to address those 234 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:59,640 Speaker 1: underlying factors that had contributed to the unrest. So along 235 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:03,600 Speaker 1: those lines, the Commission identified some common traits in most 236 00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:06,480 Speaker 1: of the cities that they studied. Most of them had 237 00:15:06,520 --> 00:15:09,200 Speaker 1: seen an influx of black residents in the first half 238 00:15:09,200 --> 00:15:12,080 Speaker 1: of the twentieth century, and then especially in the years 239 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:15,360 Speaker 1: after World War two, white residents had moved from these 240 00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:19,000 Speaker 1: cities into the suburbs. By the nineteen sixties, about a 241 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:22,400 Speaker 1: third of the total black population of the United States 242 00:15:22,440 --> 00:15:26,560 Speaker 1: was living in the nation's twelve biggest central cities. Often, 243 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:29,600 Speaker 1: the people who had moved into these cities had moved 244 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:33,080 Speaker 1: from really impoverished rural areas, so they were arriving without 245 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:36,400 Speaker 1: a lot of money, looking for work that sometimes just 246 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:41,200 Speaker 1: did not exist there. The resulting predominantly black neighborhoods were 247 00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:46,160 Speaker 1: desperately underserved. In the report, they're referred to almost exclusively 248 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:51,360 Speaker 1: as ghettos. Residents of these neighborhoods had ongoing serious grievances 249 00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:57,200 Speaker 1: related to things like unemployment and the inadequate housing, poor schools, 250 00:15:57,240 --> 00:16:01,520 Speaker 1: a lack of recreation facilities and other program discrimination, and 251 00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:06,320 Speaker 1: problems with police practices. Often residents had tried to address 252 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:09,400 Speaker 1: those issues through the city's grievance procedures and they have 253 00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:14,200 Speaker 1: been ignored. These cities also had overwhelmingly white governments and 254 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:17,480 Speaker 1: police forces, so a lot of black residents felt like 255 00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:20,760 Speaker 1: their interests were not being represented and that they were 256 00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:24,720 Speaker 1: being excluded from participating in the government. They also felt 257 00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:27,760 Speaker 1: like they had no recourse when they faced racist treatment 258 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:31,800 Speaker 1: from police, and every person the commissioners talked to who 259 00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:36,560 Speaker 1: had participated in the rioting had either experienced or witnessed 260 00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:40,240 Speaker 1: police brutality. This report really didn't put a lot of 261 00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:43,640 Speaker 1: focus on organizations that were working from within these communities 262 00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:46,720 Speaker 1: to try to make improvements. But many of the issues 263 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:50,840 Speaker 1: at work also just weren't things that citizens could fix themselves, 264 00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:55,160 Speaker 1: Like community groups could distribute breakfast to school children or 265 00:16:55,320 --> 00:16:58,720 Speaker 1: provide job training and literacy programs to their neighbors, but 266 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:02,760 Speaker 1: they couldn't fixe were systems that were literally crumbling and 267 00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:06,320 Speaker 1: backing up waste into their homes, so the result of 268 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:10,199 Speaker 1: all of this together was just a years long sense 269 00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:15,960 Speaker 1: of futility and intense frustration from cities black residents, and then, 270 00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:19,240 Speaker 1: in a pattern that repeated itself over and over again 271 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:23,120 Speaker 1: in the nineteen sixties, some kind of incident triggered a 272 00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:28,280 Speaker 1: mass uprising. Sometimes these precipitating events were major, like an 273 00:17:28,359 --> 00:17:31,720 Speaker 1: uprising in Harlem, New York in nineteen sixty four that 274 00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:36,000 Speaker 1: started after an off duty police lieutenant named Thomas Gilligan 275 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:39,400 Speaker 1: shot and killed fifteen year old James Powell in front 276 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:44,200 Speaker 1: of witnesses. But in other cases, the precipitating incident seemed 277 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:48,520 Speaker 1: random and almost trivial, like on a particularly hot day 278 00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:52,240 Speaker 1: in July of nineteen sixty six, police in Chicago turned 279 00:17:52,359 --> 00:17:55,840 Speaker 1: off some illegally opened fire hydrants in a black neighborhood, 280 00:17:56,359 --> 00:17:59,600 Speaker 1: and then rumors started to spread that police were leaving 281 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:03,840 Speaker 1: the high rents alone in white neighborhoods. Regardless of the 282 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:08,000 Speaker 1: scale of that initial incident, it typically followed months or 283 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:11,440 Speaker 1: years of building tensions, and it also typically happened during 284 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:14,760 Speaker 1: hot weather. Most of the homes in these neighborhoods had 285 00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:18,120 Speaker 1: no air conditioning, so residents would spend their free time 286 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:20,720 Speaker 1: on stoops and in the streets just to try to 287 00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:23,760 Speaker 1: get a little relief from the heat. That meant that 288 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:26,439 Speaker 1: when something happened, whether it was large or small, people 289 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:30,800 Speaker 1: were already outside, so angry crowds of already hot and 290 00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:35,960 Speaker 1: frustrated people gathered very quickly. The Commission also noted that 291 00:18:36,080 --> 00:18:39,840 Speaker 1: of the one hundred sixty four incidents they reviewed, eight 292 00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:43,240 Speaker 1: of them were major. Those are ones that they described 293 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:46,960 Speaker 1: as lasting for more than two days, with fires, looting, 294 00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:50,080 Speaker 1: reports of sniper fire, and the use of the National 295 00:18:50,119 --> 00:18:52,680 Speaker 1: Guard or even the army to try to restore order. 296 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:57,159 Speaker 1: They described twenty three of the incidents as serious. So 297 00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:01,040 Speaker 1: there was some looting, some throwing rocks and bottle some fires, 298 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:04,720 Speaker 1: but not nearly as many as in those eight major incidents, 299 00:19:04,840 --> 00:19:08,720 Speaker 1: and those serious incidents lasted a day or two. But 300 00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:12,760 Speaker 1: then they described the remaining one hundred thirty three incidents 301 00:19:12,840 --> 00:19:16,800 Speaker 1: as minor. Only a few people were involved, they lasted 302 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:19,800 Speaker 1: for less than a day, with local police being the 303 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:23,080 Speaker 1: only law enforcement who were involved, although sometimes with the 304 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:27,600 Speaker 1: help of police from a neighboring town. In the Commission's view, 305 00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:32,120 Speaker 1: these minor incidents only became national news because the nation 306 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:35,040 Speaker 1: had already primed with this idea that there was an 307 00:19:35,119 --> 00:19:39,159 Speaker 1: overwhelming tide of violence in American cities. One of the 308 00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:42,639 Speaker 1: President's directives to the Commission had been to study whether 309 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:46,400 Speaker 1: there was a national organization or conspiracy at work, some 310 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:49,399 Speaker 1: kind of outside agitators who were stirring up trouble in 311 00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:52,879 Speaker 1: cities all around the country, and the Commission found that 312 00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:56,600 Speaker 1: while some people in organizations did use violent rhetoric or 313 00:19:56,640 --> 00:20:00,320 Speaker 1: even called for violence, there was no conspiracy and no 314 00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:05,479 Speaker 1: organized national campaign for violence. The Commission also reported that 315 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:08,280 Speaker 1: in each of these cities, the vast majority of the 316 00:20:08,320 --> 00:20:12,160 Speaker 1: residents hadn't participated in the rioting, and that in almost 317 00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:15,600 Speaker 1: all cases there were other residents who had tried to 318 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:20,080 Speaker 1: discourage violence or to quote, cool things down. In some places, 319 00:20:20,119 --> 00:20:24,320 Speaker 1: these efforts became an organized, official or semi official effort. 320 00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:28,240 Speaker 1: For example, counter riot squads made up of local residents 321 00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:31,359 Speaker 1: in Dayton, Ohio and Sampa, Florida were nicknamed the white 322 00:20:31,359 --> 00:20:34,240 Speaker 1: Hats because of the white protective helmets they were issued. 323 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:38,440 Speaker 1: The Commission pulled all of this information together and came 324 00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:43,560 Speaker 1: to a striking conclusion. Quote segregation and poverty have created 325 00:20:43,920 --> 00:20:48,080 Speaker 1: in the racial ghetto a destructive environment totally unknown to 326 00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:52,679 Speaker 1: most white Americans. What white Americans have never fully understood, 327 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:55,639 Speaker 1: but what the negro can never forget, is that white 328 00:20:55,680 --> 00:21:00,960 Speaker 1: society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White instituteations created it, 329 00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:05,919 Speaker 1: white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it. It 330 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:08,760 Speaker 1: is time now to turn, with all the purpose at 331 00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:11,719 Speaker 1: our command, to the major unfinished business of this nation. 332 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:15,080 Speaker 1: It is time to adopt strategies for action that will 333 00:21:15,119 --> 00:21:18,800 Speaker 1: produce quick and visible progress. It is time to make 334 00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:23,240 Speaker 1: good the promises of American democracy to all citizens, urban 335 00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:27,719 Speaker 1: and rural, White and black, Spanish surname American, Indian, and 336 00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:32,399 Speaker 1: every minority group. At another point, the report read quote 337 00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:37,160 Speaker 1: race prejudice has shaped our history decisively. It now threatens 338 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:41,480 Speaker 1: to affect our future. White racism is essentially responsible for 339 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:45,320 Speaker 1: the explosive mixture which has been accumulating in our cities 340 00:21:45,359 --> 00:21:48,640 Speaker 1: since the end of World War Two. This report called 341 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:51,800 Speaker 1: the state of affairs in cities black neighborhoods a failure 342 00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:54,560 Speaker 1: of all levels of government, and it called for a 343 00:21:54,640 --> 00:22:00,399 Speaker 1: quote commitment to national action, compassionate, massive, and sustained, backed 344 00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:03,240 Speaker 1: by the resources of the most powerful and the richest 345 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:08,639 Speaker 1: nation on earth. Those resources would include, if necessary, new taxes. 346 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:12,399 Speaker 1: We'll talk more about the commitment that the report was 347 00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:25,640 Speaker 1: calling for. After a quick sponsor break, the full report 348 00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:29,720 Speaker 1: of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders walked through 349 00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:33,480 Speaker 1: multiple uprisings that had taken place in the early to 350 00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:38,680 Speaker 1: mid nineteen sixties, focusing primarily on the summer of ninety seven. 351 00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:49,040 Speaker 1: It documented ongoing inequity, crime, poor housing, crumbling infrastructure, pay disparities, racism, 352 00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:53,000 Speaker 1: and other issues that had been affecting these communities, as 353 00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:57,080 Speaker 1: well as the city's either inability or refusal to address 354 00:22:57,080 --> 00:23:01,840 Speaker 1: those issues. It established that it's and uprisings had developed 355 00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:07,240 Speaker 1: after months or years of ongoing, escalating tensions, including long 356 00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:12,560 Speaker 1: term social issues and serious underlying grievances. The report also said, 357 00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:15,760 Speaker 1: quote the events of the summer of nineteen sixty seven 358 00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:19,600 Speaker 1: are in large part the culmination of three hundred years 359 00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:23,320 Speaker 1: of racial prejudice, and then it walked through an overview 360 00:23:23,359 --> 00:23:27,280 Speaker 1: of that three hundred year history. It called for broad, 361 00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:31,080 Speaker 1: sweeping changes to try to address all of this. This 362 00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:36,480 Speaker 1: included seventy pages of specific recommendations based on three core objectives. 363 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:40,800 Speaker 1: Those objectives were quote opening up all opportunities for those 364 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:45,200 Speaker 1: who are restricted by racial segregation and discrimination, and eliminating 365 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:48,640 Speaker 1: all barriers to their choice of jobs, education, and housing, 366 00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:53,960 Speaker 1: Removing the frustration of powerlessness among the disadvantaged by providing 367 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:56,680 Speaker 1: the means to deal with the problems that affect their 368 00:23:56,680 --> 00:23:59,959 Speaker 1: own lives, and by increasing the capacity of our public 369 00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:05,640 Speaker 1: and private institutions to respond to those problems. Increasing communication 370 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:11,800 Speaker 1: across racial lines, to destroy stereotypes, halt polarization and distressed 371 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:15,879 Speaker 1: and hostility, and create common ground for efforts towards common 372 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:20,639 Speaker 1: goals of public order and social justice. The cost of 373 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:24,879 Speaker 1: all of these proposed efforts was estimated at thirty billion dollars. 374 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:28,720 Speaker 1: It included the creation of two million new jobs over 375 00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:32,080 Speaker 1: the course of three years, along with job training programs 376 00:24:32,119 --> 00:24:38,200 Speaker 1: and educational improvements. There's educational improvements included ending school segregation, 377 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:41,840 Speaker 1: which was still persisting more than a decade after the 378 00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:44,719 Speaker 1: Supreme Court decision in Brown versus Board of Education, and 379 00:24:45,119 --> 00:24:50,520 Speaker 1: frankly still exists today. There were also early childhood educational proposals, 380 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:55,919 Speaker 1: adult literacy programs, housing reforms, and welfare programs, including a 381 00:24:56,000 --> 00:25:01,560 Speaker 1: call to quote establish uniform national standards assistants at least 382 00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:05,840 Speaker 1: as high as the annual poverty level of income. Welfare 383 00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:10,240 Speaker 1: reforms also included removing requirements that were forcing the mothers 384 00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:14,240 Speaker 1: of young children to work. Some of the recommendations related 385 00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:18,440 Speaker 1: to policing in the criminal justice system. Recommended court reforms 386 00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:22,640 Speaker 1: included plans to administer justice during riots and other emergencies, 387 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:26,439 Speaker 1: both making emergency provisions to deal with increased numbers of 388 00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:31,080 Speaker 1: arrests and trials and seeking alternatives to making mass arrests. 389 00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:34,640 Speaker 1: The report also made a lot of recommendations that were 390 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:39,080 Speaker 1: related to policing itself. To quote from the report, quote, 391 00:25:39,119 --> 00:25:42,600 Speaker 1: the police are not merely a spark factor to some negroes. 392 00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:46,280 Speaker 1: Police have come to symbolize white power, white racism, and 393 00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:49,320 Speaker 1: white repression. And the fact is that many police do 394 00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:54,400 Speaker 1: reflect and express these white attitudes. The atmosphere of hostility 395 00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:59,280 Speaker 1: and cynicism is reinforced by a widespread belief among Negroes 396 00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:01,960 Speaker 1: in the existence of police brutality and in a quote 397 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:06,480 Speaker 1: double standard of justice and protection, one for Negroes and 398 00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:10,159 Speaker 1: one for whites. Later on the report, read quote, the 399 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:14,040 Speaker 1: abrasive relationship between the police and the minority communities has 400 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:18,680 Speaker 1: been a major and explosive source of grievance, tension, and disorder. 401 00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:22,720 Speaker 1: The blame must be shared by the total society. The 402 00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:26,560 Speaker 1: police are faced with demands for increased protection and service 403 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:30,800 Speaker 1: in the ghetto, yet the aggressive patrol practices thought necessary 404 00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:35,560 Speaker 1: to meet these demands themselves create tension and hostility. The 405 00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:38,960 Speaker 1: resulting grievances have been further aggravated by the lack of 406 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:44,159 Speaker 1: effective mechanisms for handling complaints against the police. Special programs 407 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:48,160 Speaker 1: for bettering police community relations have been instituted, but these 408 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:51,879 Speaker 1: alone are not enough. Police administrators, with the guidance of 409 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:55,800 Speaker 1: public officials and the support of the entire community, must 410 00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:59,760 Speaker 1: take vigorous action to improve law enforcement and to decrease 411 00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:04,760 Speaker 1: the potential for disorder. So the Commission's recommendations related to 412 00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:10,480 Speaker 1: police included things like eliminating abrasive practices, establishing fair standards 413 00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:14,439 Speaker 1: for dealing with citizens grievances, recruiting more black people to 414 00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:18,360 Speaker 1: the police force, and developing programs meant to encourage community 415 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:22,879 Speaker 1: support of law enforcement. The Commission also made recommendations specifically 416 00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:26,919 Speaker 1: about policing during periods of disorder, including making sure police 417 00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:31,000 Speaker 1: were trained in riot response, which many responding officers and 418 00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:33,920 Speaker 1: National Guard who were called out during these incidents were 419 00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:38,880 Speaker 1: not The Commission also recommended establishing methods to dispel rumors 420 00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:43,720 Speaker 1: and spread accurate information, and provide alternatives to lethal weapons 421 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:46,879 Speaker 1: for police to use in the field. The report also 422 00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:51,480 Speaker 1: argued against the militarization of police quote the Commission believes 423 00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:55,200 Speaker 1: that there is a grave danger that some communities may 424 00:27:55,240 --> 00:27:59,439 Speaker 1: resort to the indiscriminate and excessive use of force. The 425 00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:04,840 Speaker 1: harm full effects of overreaction are incalculable. The Commission condemns 426 00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:08,800 Speaker 1: moves to equit police departments with mass destruction weapons such 427 00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:13,520 Speaker 1: as automatic rifles, machine guns, and tanks. Weapons which are 428 00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:17,359 Speaker 1: designed to destroy, not to control, have no place in 429 00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:22,960 Speaker 1: densely populated urban communities. The Commission's recommendations also related to 430 00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:25,760 Speaker 1: the news media. It found that much of the news 431 00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:30,960 Speaker 1: reporting of the uprisings had been generally accurate, though sometimes sensationalized, 432 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:34,960 Speaker 1: but it had also focused mostly on violence without exploring 433 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:38,440 Speaker 1: the cause of the violence, and often the only news 434 00:28:38,520 --> 00:28:42,880 Speaker 1: being reported about black neighborhoods was about violence. The report 435 00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:46,400 Speaker 1: called for media outlets to have reporters on permanent assignment 436 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:49,920 Speaker 1: to cover issues related to black communities and urban areas, 437 00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:53,000 Speaker 1: and to make this coverage a standard part of reporting. 438 00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:57,640 Speaker 1: The report also recommended recruiting more black journalists at every 439 00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:02,480 Speaker 1: level of news organizations. So the Commission's final report, including 440 00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:06,200 Speaker 1: that seventy plus page list of recommendations, which of course 441 00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:09,920 Speaker 1: we have not read all of the recommendations here seventy 442 00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:12,840 Speaker 1: pages as a whole lot, uh, this total report was 443 00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:16,400 Speaker 1: more than four hundred pages long. And even though the 444 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:18,960 Speaker 1: Commission's goal was to produce a document that they could 445 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:21,880 Speaker 1: all agree to, and they planned to sign that document 446 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:25,800 Speaker 1: in a public ceremony, that almost did not happen. Text 447 00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:28,520 Speaker 1: Thornton threatened not to sign it because he felt that 448 00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:31,520 Speaker 1: the document was anti police, and at that point John 449 00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:34,440 Speaker 1: Lindsay said he would not sign it either, because he 450 00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:36,880 Speaker 1: had made a lot of concessions to make that final 451 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:41,040 Speaker 1: report acceptable to Thornton. In the end, though they did 452 00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:44,640 Speaker 1: present their unanimously approved report to the President at the 453 00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:49,920 Speaker 1: end of February. You may remember that the Commission's preliminary 454 00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:53,440 Speaker 1: findings were due by March first, ninety eight, but the 455 00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:56,440 Speaker 1: deadline for the final report wasn't until the end of July. 456 00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:01,320 Speaker 1: But this was the Commission's only report. President Johnson had 457 00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:03,720 Speaker 1: realized that its work was not going the way that 458 00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:06,480 Speaker 1: he had hoped, and he had eventually cut its funding. 459 00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:10,200 Speaker 1: The Commission had reduced its staff to a skeleton crew 460 00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:12,640 Speaker 1: just so it could finish a report with what it 461 00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:17,160 Speaker 1: had left. The Kerner Commission report was dramatically different in 462 00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:20,320 Speaker 1: its scope and its tone from other reports that had 463 00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:23,800 Speaker 1: been produced in the nineteen sixties related to some of 464 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:27,400 Speaker 1: the same topics. So, for example, the Maccone Commission had 465 00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:31,440 Speaker 1: investigated the nineteen sixty five Watts riots, and while it's 466 00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:35,960 Speaker 1: report did note the existence of issues like unemployment and 467 00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:39,840 Speaker 1: complaints about police brutality, it concluded that the riots were 468 00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:45,920 Speaker 1: essentially meaningless outbursts started by quote riff Raff Lyndon. Johnson's 469 00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:50,720 Speaker 1: assistant Secretary of Labor, Daniel Patrick Monahan, had also produced 470 00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:53,959 Speaker 1: The Negro Family, the Case for National Action in nineteen 471 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:58,000 Speaker 1: sixty five. This report had put a huge focus on 472 00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:02,120 Speaker 1: black families, specific offically how many black families had a 473 00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:04,520 Speaker 1: single mother as the head of the household, and it 474 00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:10,120 Speaker 1: had framed this as an almost pathological root of the problem, 475 00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:13,440 Speaker 1: the problem kind of in quotation marks within black communities. 476 00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:17,760 Speaker 1: So with precedents like those in mind, Johnson did not 477 00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:20,960 Speaker 1: expect the Kerner Commission to produce the kind of report 478 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:24,160 Speaker 1: that it did, one that did not praise his initiatives 479 00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:27,200 Speaker 1: in programs and in fact barely even mentioned them, and 480 00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:31,240 Speaker 1: instead called for massive new programs that would require huge 481 00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:35,600 Speaker 1: amounts of money, while also repeatedly citing white racism as 482 00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:39,160 Speaker 1: an urgent problem. It did not help that the report 483 00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:42,960 Speaker 1: came out as Johnson was facing increasing backlash over the 484 00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:45,520 Speaker 1: US role in the Vietnam War, which had its own 485 00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:49,360 Speaker 1: massive price tag. So johnasan refused to accept this report. 486 00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:52,640 Speaker 1: He canceled the ceremony where he was supposed to accept 487 00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:56,240 Speaker 1: a specially bound copy of it. He had established roughly 488 00:31:56,320 --> 00:31:59,760 Speaker 1: twenty different commissions during his presidency, and for each of 489 00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:02,280 Speaker 1: them he had personally signed letters of thanks to the 490 00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:05,880 Speaker 1: commission's members, but he refused to do that for the 491 00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:09,560 Speaker 1: members of the Kurner Commission. He did a point otto 492 00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:12,760 Speaker 1: Kerner to the Federal Court of Appeals, but he blamed 493 00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:15,960 Speaker 1: Lindsay for the direction the Commission had taken. And then, 494 00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:19,080 Speaker 1: just as a side note, Karner's career came to an 495 00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:22,480 Speaker 1: end in nineteen seventy four thanks to a corruption scandal 496 00:32:23,160 --> 00:32:26,560 Speaker 1: his way outside the scope of this episode. But I thought, 497 00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:28,680 Speaker 1: if we didn't mention it. People would say, why didn't 498 00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:34,120 Speaker 1: you mention Auto Kurner's massive corruption scandal. Johnson had announced 499 00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:37,320 Speaker 1: the creation of the Commission on National Television in nineteen 500 00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:41,240 Speaker 1: sixty seven, but when its report came out in ninety eight, 501 00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:44,840 Speaker 1: he essentially buried it. The only piece of legislation that's 502 00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:48,080 Speaker 1: generally connected to the report is the Civil Rights Act 503 00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:50,960 Speaker 1: of nineteen sixty eight, also called the Fair Housing Act 504 00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:54,320 Speaker 1: of ninety eight, and that was revived after the report 505 00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:58,680 Speaker 1: came out. The public response to the report was also divided. 506 00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:02,600 Speaker 1: Bantom Book published the full report, and it became an 507 00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:07,720 Speaker 1: immediate bestseller, selling seven hundred and fifty thousand copies in 508 00:33:07,760 --> 00:33:11,480 Speaker 1: the first week and one point six million copies by 509 00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:16,720 Speaker 1: June of nine. That is an enormous number of copies 510 00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:20,360 Speaker 1: of books for any book, but especially for a government report. 511 00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:24,800 Speaker 1: And also though faced a huge backlash because of its 512 00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:28,960 Speaker 1: focus on white racism and its findings related to policing. 513 00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:32,840 Speaker 1: Beyond that, though critics noted that it mirrored parts of 514 00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:36,320 Speaker 1: the Moynihan Report, it sort of framed single motherhood among 515 00:33:36,360 --> 00:33:41,120 Speaker 1: black women is almost pathological. In fact, women were barely 516 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:44,479 Speaker 1: mentioned in the report aside from being the victims of 517 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:49,640 Speaker 1: violence or mentioned as being single mothers. Another criticism was 518 00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:53,360 Speaker 1: that the future goal of the report was really envisioning quote, 519 00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:58,040 Speaker 1: a single society and a single American identity, So in 520 00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:02,720 Speaker 1: other words, this report was proposing that black communities assimilate 521 00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:05,920 Speaker 1: with and conform to white norms, which the report just 522 00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:09,960 Speaker 1: took for granted as the one acceptable standard. The report 523 00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:13,799 Speaker 1: also focused only on cities that had experienced some kind 524 00:34:13,800 --> 00:34:17,000 Speaker 1: of civil disturbance, and not on the ones that didn't, 525 00:34:17,520 --> 00:34:20,680 Speaker 1: so there was no examination of why those cities didn't 526 00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:25,000 Speaker 1: see similar disturbances, even if they had similar underlying factors 527 00:34:25,040 --> 00:34:29,279 Speaker 1: at work. Similarly, this report was focused almost exclusively on 528 00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:33,719 Speaker 1: disturbances in which the civilians committing crimes were black. The 529 00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:36,480 Speaker 1: chapter of the report that summarized three hundred years of 530 00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:40,800 Speaker 1: US history mentioned various incidents of violence that white mobs 531 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:44,799 Speaker 1: enacted against black communities, but there was really no suggestion 532 00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:48,680 Speaker 1: that that violence needed a thorough investigation into its causes 533 00:34:48,960 --> 00:34:51,440 Speaker 1: and what could be done to prevent that in the future. 534 00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:55,839 Speaker 1: Since Johnson didn't accept this report or specifically add its 535 00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:59,919 Speaker 1: recommendations to his administration's goals in his final months and off, 536 00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:03,400 Speaker 1: this sometimes the Kerner Reports impact is summed up as 537 00:35:03,480 --> 00:35:07,319 Speaker 1: kind of None of its recommendations were ever enacted. It 538 00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:11,000 Speaker 1: is absolutely true that there was no massive bill that 539 00:35:11,080 --> 00:35:14,400 Speaker 1: tried to put all of these recommendations into play at once, 540 00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:18,359 Speaker 1: but over the decades, some of its recommendations did come 541 00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:22,560 Speaker 1: to pass through other legislation. For example, this report had 542 00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:26,000 Speaker 1: a big focus on job training programs and the creation 543 00:35:26,040 --> 00:35:30,440 Speaker 1: of new jobs. The Comprehensive Employment Training Act the c 544 00:35:30,560 --> 00:35:34,000 Speaker 1: e t A was enacted in nineteen seventy three, and 545 00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:36,920 Speaker 1: tax credits were passed in the nineteen seventies and eighties 546 00:35:36,960 --> 00:35:39,520 Speaker 1: that led to the creation of about seven hundred thousand 547 00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:43,360 Speaker 1: new jobs. The report also called for things like more 548 00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:47,040 Speaker 1: funding and power for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and 549 00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:51,040 Speaker 1: that did get a bigger budget and more oversight. There 550 00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:54,120 Speaker 1: were also changes to policing which started long before the 551 00:35:54,200 --> 00:35:58,760 Speaker 1: report was finalized. Johnson had declared a war on crime 552 00:35:58,800 --> 00:36:02,040 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty five and had established the Commission on 553 00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:06,680 Speaker 1: Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice also called the Katzenbach Commission, 554 00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:10,719 Speaker 1: whose report was delivered in nineteen sixty seven. Johnson had 555 00:36:10,840 --> 00:36:14,440 Speaker 1: established an Office of Law Enforcement Assistance, which became the 556 00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:19,480 Speaker 1: Law Enforcement Assistance Administration in night, and in June of 557 00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:22,880 Speaker 1: that year, Johnson signed the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 558 00:36:22,920 --> 00:36:26,799 Speaker 1: Streets Act of nineteen sixty eight. So it's hard to 559 00:36:26,840 --> 00:36:29,920 Speaker 1: trace a one to one path from the Currenter Commission 560 00:36:29,960 --> 00:36:32,919 Speaker 1: report to the way policing has evolved because there were 561 00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:37,080 Speaker 1: so many other laws and programs already in the works 562 00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:40,040 Speaker 1: before and during the time that the Commission was working. 563 00:36:41,320 --> 00:36:44,520 Speaker 1: None of its recommendations about police reform were really all 564 00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:50,560 Speaker 1: that radical either, but the Commission's argument against the increasing 565 00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:55,480 Speaker 1: militarization of police was obviously not heated at all. One 566 00:36:55,560 --> 00:36:59,920 Speaker 1: note about the Commission's recommendations about law enforcement. The Commission 567 00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:03,319 Speaker 1: insulted numerous members of law enforcement when doing its work, 568 00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:06,440 Speaker 1: three of whom were big enough contributors that the Commission 569 00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:10,160 Speaker 1: thanked them by name. One was Darryl Gates, Deputy chief 570 00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:12,759 Speaker 1: of the Los Angeles Police Department, who had been one 571 00:37:12,760 --> 00:37:15,279 Speaker 1: of the commanders in the field during the Watson Uprising. 572 00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:18,080 Speaker 1: Gates later became chief of the l a p D, 573 00:37:18,320 --> 00:37:22,920 Speaker 1: and his tenure was incredibly controversial, everything from founding the 574 00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:27,720 Speaker 1: ubiquitous but ineffective drug Abuse Resistance Education program to making 575 00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:31,759 Speaker 1: racist comments about black people's physiology to how he led 576 00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:33,600 Speaker 1: the l A p D and its response to the 577 00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:39,160 Speaker 1: uprising in Los Angeles. Who's precipitating factors included the acquittal 578 00:37:39,560 --> 00:37:43,520 Speaker 1: of four police officers in the beating of Rodney King. Yeah, 579 00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:48,200 Speaker 1: it's it's it's weird that somebody who wound up being 580 00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:51,840 Speaker 1: that notorious is one of the people UH personally thanked 581 00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:56,320 Speaker 1: Uh in the footnotes of this report. About a month 582 00:37:56,480 --> 00:37:59,759 Speaker 1: after the Coroner Commission report was released, the assassination of 583 00:37:59,800 --> 00:38:02,720 Speaker 1: Mark and Luther King Jr. Sparked a wave of riots 584 00:38:02,719 --> 00:38:06,279 Speaker 1: and other unrest all across the United States, and then 585 00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:09,400 Speaker 1: in November of nineteen sixty eight, Richard Nixon won the 586 00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:13,239 Speaker 1: presidential election. He had run on a law and order platform, 587 00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:17,439 Speaker 1: focusing on increased policing and a restoration of order rather 588 00:38:17,480 --> 00:38:21,600 Speaker 1: than the types of widespread social programs and reforms that 589 00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:26,239 Speaker 1: the Kurner Report had really been advocating. Nixon took office 590 00:38:26,239 --> 00:38:29,080 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty nine. So even if Johnson had really 591 00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:30,799 Speaker 1: tried to push all this very hard in the last 592 00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:34,799 Speaker 1: few months of his presidency, full pessimistic that that would 593 00:38:34,800 --> 00:38:38,680 Speaker 1: have been continued into the next presidential administration. Every ten 594 00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:42,880 Speaker 1: years since nineteen sixty eight. Various organizations and institutions have 595 00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:46,319 Speaker 1: done retrospectives on the Kerner Report, looking back at what's 596 00:38:46,400 --> 00:38:49,840 Speaker 1: changed and what hasn't, and of those changes, what worked 597 00:38:49,840 --> 00:38:53,360 Speaker 1: and what didn't. And generally those reports have been mixed 598 00:38:53,719 --> 00:38:56,240 Speaker 1: both in terms of the changes and whether those changes 599 00:38:56,320 --> 00:39:00,080 Speaker 1: led to overall positive or negative outcomes. But we're are 600 00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:03,520 Speaker 1: less of the details. They generally note how much inequality 601 00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:06,520 Speaker 1: and how many of these social conditions outlined in the 602 00:39:06,600 --> 00:39:11,600 Speaker 1: report still exist today. Yeah, there there are definitely aspects 603 00:39:11,640 --> 00:39:15,560 Speaker 1: that you can see some improvement, Like, uh, A lot 604 00:39:15,600 --> 00:39:19,480 Speaker 1: of the communities that were looked at are not as 605 00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:23,880 Speaker 1: heavily segregated as they were um A lot of times, 606 00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:27,279 Speaker 1: though it is still a community of uh, like it 607 00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:31,440 Speaker 1: has become instead of an almost exclusively black community, it 608 00:39:31,480 --> 00:39:35,120 Speaker 1: has become us um a community of like black and 609 00:39:35,360 --> 00:39:40,360 Speaker 1: Hispanic and Latino people, still under a city government that 610 00:39:40,480 --> 00:39:43,319 Speaker 1: is overwhelmingly white. So it's it's a lot of the 611 00:39:43,400 --> 00:39:46,760 Speaker 1: changes that these reports look into have like that degree 612 00:39:46,760 --> 00:39:49,160 Speaker 1: of nuance, like here is a here is a change 613 00:39:49,200 --> 00:39:54,000 Speaker 1: that has happened, not necessarily something that that addressed core 614 00:39:54,120 --> 00:39:57,440 Speaker 1: issues that were at work. Do you have a bit 615 00:39:57,480 --> 00:40:00,000 Speaker 1: of listener mail for us I do. It's about something 616 00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:03,480 Speaker 1: completely different from all of this. Uh. This is from Sonia, 617 00:40:03,560 --> 00:40:06,160 Speaker 1: who says, Hi, tracing Holly, I recently listened to the 618 00:40:06,200 --> 00:40:09,360 Speaker 1: Swill Milk scandal episode and was tickled and how you 619 00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:12,440 Speaker 1: kept trying to reassure the audience how spent beer grains 620 00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:15,640 Speaker 1: being fed to cows was safe. I thought you might 621 00:40:15,640 --> 00:40:18,319 Speaker 1: be interested to know that spent beer grain is not 622 00:40:18,520 --> 00:40:21,840 Speaker 1: only a great nutrition source for cows, but also humans. 623 00:40:22,360 --> 00:40:25,440 Speaker 1: Companies like Regrained are part of the growing up cycled 624 00:40:25,480 --> 00:40:29,320 Speaker 1: food movement, specializing in creating delicious and nutritious food products 625 00:40:29,320 --> 00:40:32,600 Speaker 1: from spent beer grains. Up Cycled feed uses ingredients that 626 00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:36,400 Speaker 1: otherwise would not have gone to human consumption, are procured 627 00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:40,480 Speaker 1: and produced using verifiable supply chains, and have a positive 628 00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:44,120 Speaker 1: impact on the environment. The Regrain Supergrain plus has three 629 00:40:44,160 --> 00:40:46,680 Speaker 1: point four times the amount of fiber than wheat flour 630 00:40:46,760 --> 00:40:49,200 Speaker 1: and two times the protein of oats, so it's a 631 00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:52,959 Speaker 1: highly nutritious ingredient and keeps this low carbon food source 632 00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:56,200 Speaker 1: from ending up in landfills. Sonia talks about knowing the 633 00:40:56,239 --> 00:40:59,759 Speaker 1: owners of Regrain when they were developing their product. Um. 634 00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:03,960 Speaker 1: I wanted to read this particular email because I just 635 00:41:04,080 --> 00:41:08,040 Speaker 1: completely forgot about how when we were doing more brewing 636 00:41:08,080 --> 00:41:11,399 Speaker 1: at home, we were using our spent grains to make 637 00:41:11,440 --> 00:41:16,080 Speaker 1: all kinds of stuff. We were having spent grain pancakes 638 00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:21,600 Speaker 1: and spent grain bread and spent grain muffins. Um, it's 639 00:41:21,640 --> 00:41:24,279 Speaker 1: been a while since we brewed anything. I don't know 640 00:41:24,320 --> 00:41:26,000 Speaker 1: why that is. We have the stuff to do it, 641 00:41:26,080 --> 00:41:32,839 Speaker 1: but yes, spent grains can be delicious for people as 642 00:41:32,880 --> 00:41:39,520 Speaker 1: well as for non human animals. Um. Yeah, So we'd 643 00:41:39,520 --> 00:41:41,520 Speaker 1: like to send us an email right to us about 644 00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:43,920 Speaker 1: this or any other podcast where History podcast at i 645 00:41:43,960 --> 00:41:46,799 Speaker 1: heart radio dot com. We're all over social media ad 646 00:41:46,840 --> 00:41:49,440 Speaker 1: missed in History. That's where we'll find our Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, 647 00:41:49,520 --> 00:41:53,440 Speaker 1: in Instagram. And you can subscribe to our show on 648 00:41:53,480 --> 00:41:56,399 Speaker 1: the iHeart radio app and anywhere else to get your podcasts. 649 00:42:01,640 --> 00:42:03,799 Speaker 1: Stuff you Missed in History Class is a production of 650 00:42:03,840 --> 00:42:07,080 Speaker 1: I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, 651 00:42:07,239 --> 00:42:10,400 Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 652 00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:11,800 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.