Thread by @hg_jefferson

A few years after some of the worst race riots in the country Kodak commissioned an internal report on race relations in the city of Rochester. Here are some highlights from the report, which frequently endorses violence as a way to push for more social programs

"a common Negro attitude was that the whites deserve violence in payment for broken promises about jobs, school desegration and improved housing - the common white attitude was that if the ungrateful Negro steps out of line - he'll be shot"

The group protesting Kodak for additional black job quotas had gang presidents as members

"The wealthier persons of this age group, on the other hand, display a far more liberal attitude.., embrac[ing] a hippy or
"pseudo-hippy" style of life... The county hospital reports cases of rickets and tuberculosis in the patients that have arrived from the southern states. These are diseases that have not been observed in Rochester for ten or fifteen years."

"Many of the Negroes interviewed revealed similar problems of
lack of education, skills, and jobs. They had quit school... and consequently had nothing to offer the Rochester market for highly skilled labor... There is a sizeable group employed by the city's social
agencies."

Possible these two things are related?

"A Negro observer... finding that the whites reacted with a fear and resentment that were stronger
and more blatant than any he had observed in other cities.

Many of the "unemployed" Negroes actually earn their livings through the various illegal activities that flourish in the Rochester ghettoes."

The problem is lack of jobs -- but also -- the men with jobs would prefer to be doing crime

"Many discuss riots as a phenomenon to be accepted as a means of accomplishing social goals; some joke about it..."

Babysitters ready to take "defensive action" against middle and upper class whites. Plans to ride around the city with machine guns and throw bombs.

No point in enforcing the law until we give more money to the black community.

Rochester has tried hard, the issue is that the programs implemented by Kodak only work for the black people actually interested in working

The report paints a picture of a city held hostage by the constant threat of crime and riots, whose efforts are never enough. The solutions attempted then are the same ones as now. Starting from 1950 Rochester goes from 99% white and one of the most affluent cities in the US to 40% white with some of the worst graduation rates and highest murder rates in the country.

The implosion of Kodak due to digital cameras is well known, but I suspect the racial sinecures demanded of Kodak (covered in this other thread) and changing demographics contributed strongly to their decline

https://twitter.com/hg_jefferson/status/1981432885467902181

Notable Community Relations Service mention. Kodak had tripled its percent of black employees in 5 years.