Protests For Racial Justice: A Long History

In the summer of 1967, Black neighborhoods in 150 cities including Newark and Detroit erupted in violence. Images of police battling protesters and buildings in flames appeared regularly on the evening news.

The wide-ranging violence stunned the nation, and President Lyndon B. Johnson quickly assembled a commission headed by Illinois Governor Otto Kerner to study the causes and propose solutions.

That summer, many Americans blamed the violent outbreaks on young Black men and “outside agitators.” But eight months later Gov. Kerner delivered his report and turned those assumptions upside down.

The commission’s report placed the blame on white racism and political inaction for the “explosive mixture” that had been building up for decades over police brutality, inadequate housing, high unemployment and inequality caused by endemic discrimination.

“Our nation is moving toward two societies – one Black, one white,” the 400-page report warned. “Separate and unequal.”

The report detailed sweeping changes needed in Black communities to prevent future trouble, and urged some $30 billion in new spending.

It became a paperback best-seller, but President Johnson turned his back on it, while the Republicans quickly capitalized on the need for “law and order,” and helped Richard M. Nixon win the presidency later that year.

But the words of the Kerner report continue to haunt American history as the road not taken: “Race prejudice has shaped our history decisively; it now threatens to affect our future.”