ABSTRACT

The Report of the Riot Commission stands incontrovertibly as a moral indictment of the nation. It delineates American movement toward two societies, one white, one black—separate and unequal. It exposes white racism—the refusal of white Americans to accept Negroes as human beings, as social and economic equals—in all its present and historic virulence. The Report places responsibility for the creation of the black ghetto on white institutions. Operating social welfare programs provide the most sensitive possible instrument for spotting emergent needs and problems in urban areas and for identifying weak spots in the social fabric. In terms of the urban-racial crisis, no other profession is closer to the subject, more aware of the end results of inadequate social policy, or more sensitively equipped to advise the body politic. White social workers have a prime responsibility to exercise leadership in the white community to do away with white racism.