Kerner Commission

The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, known as the Kerner Commission after its chair, Governor Otto Kerner Jr. of Illinois, was an 11-member Presidential Commission established in July 1967 by President Lyndon B. Johnson in to investigate the causes of urban riots in the United States during the summer of 1967, and to provide recommendations to the government for the future. The report was released in 1968, after seven months of investigation. It attributed the riots to lack of economic opportunity for African Americans, failed social service programs, police brutality, racism, and the orientation of national media to white perspectives. The 426-page report was a bestseller. Background President Johnson appointed the commission on July 28, 1967, while rioting was still underway in Detroit. Mounting civil unrest since 1965 had resulted in riots predominantly in black and some Puerto Rican neighborhoods of major U.S. cities, including Los Angeles (Watts riots of 1965), Chicago (Division Street Riots of 1966, the first Puerto Rican riot in U.S. history); and Newark (1967 Newark riots). In his remarks upon signing the order to establish the commission, Johnson asked for answers to three basic questions about the riots: "What happened? Why did it happen? What can be done to prevent it from happening again and again?" It was widely believed by the general public (without any supporting evidence) that the riots were part of an organized effort.