This publication largely is based upon the testimony given at the hearing held by the Commission on Civil Rights in Cairo, Illinois, in March 1972. Half of the families in the Cairo area have poverty incomes, according to federal standards. Unemployment at 9 percent is nearly double the national average. About a third of the city--county population gets some kind of public assistance. More than one half of Cairo's dwellings are classified as deteriorating or dilapidated. How did Cairo get that way? Certainly uncontrollable economic developments contributed to the material decline. But disastrous race relations have blighted human resources essential to progress. Testimony before the Commission show that over the decades, blacks have comprised roughly 30 percent of the county and 40 percent of the city population. But no black had ever served on the county Housing Authority, the Cairo Public Utility Commission, Building Commission or Library Board. There were blacks in city office jobs. Admittedly, many American "people" are bored with race as a topic. But what color are these "people?" In Cairo, is their median family income 6400 dollars (white) or 2800 dollars (black)? Do they live in big-city ghettoes where jobs are always in short supply but drugs are plentiful? Do residents of Cairo's segregated public housing feel that the topic of racism has been exhausted? And the imposing body of civil rights law, how well does it work to change the quality of lives. These are some of the questions that brought the Commission to Cairo. (Author/JM)