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33^ An American Dilemma
poor and pay virtually no taxes, they are actually not entitled to get more
public services than the whites care to give them. Whatever they get is a
charitable gift for which they should be grateful. There can be no sense
in talking about discrimination, it is held, as Negroes have no right to any-
thing, but get something out of the whites’ benevolence. Negroes are here
considered as an “out-group” not on a par with white citizens. Otherwise
the same argument would hold true even in regard to poor whites, which
is usually not intended.
This popular theory is, of course, contrary to the American Creed and
to the Constitution,® and also to the democratic individualistic legal struc-
ture of the Southern states themselves. The discrimination that exists, there-
fore, has to be carried out against the laws. Rights, in our Western legal
order, are not given to a group or to a race but to individuals. An individ-
ual’s right to receive public services is not related to the actual amount he
has paid in taxes. The poor man should share equally in public consumption
with the rich, though his taxes are lower.
Furthermore, there are some Negroes who pay quite high taxes, but they,
nevertheless, meet discrimination in getting public service. There are
examples of whole Negro communities which actually pay more in taxes
than is expended upon the particular public services supported by the
taxes.® Too, there is plain stealing in giving Negroes public services: when,
for example, counties receive state or federal grants on the basis of school
population and misappropriate the funds in favor of the white schools.
We shall analyze the basic conflict in the Southern whites’ concept of
law’ and order in later parts of this inquiry.® It should be observed that the
argument of “low taxes, little service,” which apparently means so much to
the average white Southerner, is no longer publicly expressed by any person
who is in a responsible position or who cares for his intellectual reputation.
It is openly repudiated by Southern liberals.* The factual assertion that
Negroes pay practically no taxes because they are so poor is, of course, mis-
taken or grossly exaggerated. The false belief is explainable only by the
fact that most people are inclined to disregard indirect taxes.® We have
already observed that American taxation, in part, is “regressive” (except
for high income groups).*
Federal agencies or other groups who want to favor the Negro some-
times have to content themselves by working for the realization of a com-
promise formula: that Negroes and whites share in the benefits from the
public economy in proportion to their numbers.® This norm is in conflict
with the Constitution, since it refers to the Negro grouf and does not
* See Part VI.
We have already met this in the activity ot the Farm Security Administration, lee
Chapter 12, Section 12.
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