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The urgent need for a large-scale, well-funded national effort to address racial inequality and its social consequences.
Written by the Tronix Library
2 chapters across 1 book
PreambleThe 'Preamble' chapter introduces the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, emphasizing its moderate and establishment composition to lend credibility to its analysis of urban unrest rooted in systemic white racism intertwined with poverty, unemployment, and lack of education. It highlights internal Commission divisions on issues like federal open housing legislation and advocates a dual approach of ghetto enrichment and integration, while rejecting both moderate and separatist solutions. The chapter dispels conspiracy theories about the riots, profiles the rioters as frustrated young black natives of ghettos, and underscores the necessity of a comprehensive federal response and national commitment to address the systemic conditions of despair. It concludes with an organizational overview of the Commission's personnel and the report's structured analysis of civil disorders across multiple cities.
Chapter 14 — Damages: Repair and Compensation The Commission recommends that the federal government: • Amend the Federal Disaster Act — which now applies only to nat- ural disasters — to permit federal emergency food and medical assistance to cities during major civil disorders, and provide long-term economic assistance afterwards. • With the cooperation of the states, create incentives for the private insurance industry to provide more adequate property-insurance coverage in inner-city areas. The Commission endorses the report of the National Ad- visory Panel on Insurance in Riot- Affected Areas: "Meeting the Insurance Crisis of our Cities." Chapter 15 — The News Media and the Disorders In his charge to the Commission, the President asked: "What effect do the mass media have on the riots?" The Commission determined that the answer to the Presi- dent's question did not lie solely in the performance of the press and broadcasters in reporting the riots. Our analysis had to consider also the overall treatment by the media of the Negro ghettos, community relations, racial attitudes, and pov- erty — day by day and month by month, year in and year out A wide range of interviews with government officials, law enforcement authorities, media personnel and other citizens, including ghetto residents, as well as a quantitative analysis of riot coverage and a special conference with industry rep- resentatives, leads us to conclude that: • Despite instances of sensationalism, inaccuracy and distortion, newspapers, radio and television tried on the whole to give a balanced, factual account of the 1967 disorders. • Elements of the news media failed to portray accurately the scale and character of the violence that occurred last summer. The overall effect was, we believe, an exaggeration of both mood and event. • Important segments of the media failed to report adequately on the causes and consequences of civil disorders and on the under- lying problems of race relations. They have not communicated to the majority of their audience — which is white — a sense of the degradation, misery and hopelessness of life in the ghetto. These failings must be corrected, and the improvement must come from within the industry. Freedom of the press is not the issue. Any effort to impose governmental restrictions would be inconsistent with fundamental constitutional precepts. 20The chapter presents comprehensive federal policy recommendations to address the aftermath of civil disorders, including amending the Federal Disaster Act to cover emergencies during riots and incentivizing insurance coverage in inner-city areas. It advocates a dual strategy combining ghetto enrichment with integration programs to dismantle racial segregation, emphasizing reforms in education, welfare, and housing to combat systemic racial inequality. The Commission underscores the media's failure to adequately portray the root causes of racial unrest and calls for a national commitment to social and economic change to achieve lasting civil order and justice.