Note:
Gunnar Myrdal died in 1987, less than 70 years ago.
Therefore, this work is protected by copyright,
restricting your legal rights to reproduce it.
However, you are welcome to view it on screen, as you do now.
Read more about copyright.
Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Economics - 15. The Negro in the Public Economy - 2. Discrimination in Public Service
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
Chapter 15. The Negro in the Public Economy 335
although the whites in the South certainly have the power to assess Negro-
owned property differently than they assess white-owned property. In
regard to public benefits, on the other hand, there is little doubt about the
factual situation. Widespread discrimination exists in the entire South. In
the North there is little, if any, direct discrimination. In the North the
commonly accepted doctrine is that there should be no difference on account
of ^^race, creed or color,” and this doctrine is fairly well upheld in all public
activity. What inequality there is in the Negro’s consumption of public
services in the North is due mostly to poverty, lack of education, and other
disabilities which he shares with other lower class persons in the region.
In the South, too, all the laws are written upon the principle of full
equality. Even the Jim Crow regulations, which in many respects facilitate
discrimination in public services and, in fact, have discrimination for their
purpose, follow the formula ^^separate but equal.”® The actual practice,
however, is quite different. It is more difficult for Negroes than for whites
in similar economic circumstances to get on the relief rolls, and relief grants
are often lower for Negroes than for whites. There is an amazing discrim-
ination against Negroes in the segregated school system of the South.
Virtually the whole range of other publicly administered facilities—such as
hospitals, libraries, parks, and similar recreational facilities—^are much
poorer for Negroes than they are for whites. This is true In spite of the
fact that the higher sickness rates and the inferior housing conditions In
Negro sections make the need for all sorts of health and recreational facili-
ties so much greater in Negro neighborhoods. Every visitor to the South
who has given the matter any attention at all knows that streets are not
kept up in Negro sections of Southern cities the way they are In white
sections. Public utility equipment is often less complete in Negro than in
white neighborhoods. Police and judicial protection in the South is not so
much organized for Negroes as against them.** The Negro’s representation
on public payrolls is almost everywhere—and particularly in regard to
high-paid jobs—much smaller than that of whites. As we have seen, there
is discrimination against Negroes in agricultural policy. It can be generally
ascertained that, as a result of the relative growth of the federal budget
and the increased responsibility for and control of public services by federal
agencies, discrimination has been decreasing during the New Deal. The
fight between Washington and the Southern state and county administra-
tions goes on continually, yet much discrimination remains.
The popular motivation for discrimination in public service in the South
contains, in addition to the elaborated popular theories referred to in
Chapter 9, one specific argument which relates to the fiscal sphere. The
observer is frequently told by white Southerners that, since Negroes are so
* See Chapter iS.
‘See Part VI
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
