As Congress considered the civil rights bill, racial violence swept America. Rochester, Jersey City, and Philadelphia erupted in 1964. The Watts riot (Los Angeles) killed 34 in 1965. Riots engulfed 25 major cities in 1967–68. Detroit's left 43 dead and 2,000 injured. The president appointed the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Illinois Governor Otto Kerner chair) to investigate and make recommendations.

Many testified at commission hearings. For example, Martin Luther King, Jr. attributed the riots to “the greater crimes of white society,” including race and class poverty, discrimination, and unemployment. He strongly applauded the commission's report, issued only weeks before his assassination. “This is our basic conclusion: Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white–separate and unequal,” it stated. Poverty and racism created in the “ghetto a destructive environment totally unknown to most white Americans.” It recommended “unprecedented levels of funding” for education, training, and employment programs.