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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - VII. Social Inequality - 29. Patterns of Social Segregation and Discrimination - 5. The General Character of Institutional Segregation
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628 An American Dilemma
One is that Institutional segregation in the South is supported and,
indeed, inspired by an elaborate racial etiquette and a clearly perceived
popular theory of ‘^no social equality.” The etiquette is, as we have shown,
for the most part entirely lacking in the North, while the theory of ^^no
social equality” is perceived only vaguely and is not invested with the same
deadly seriousness as in the South. For this reason institutional segregation
fits in more ^Wurally” in the South, while in the North it is constantly
challenging other elements of popular Ideologies and customs. The North
is more secularized in its way of thinking, and life Is more anonymous. It
is to a greater degree bent upon technical efficiency, which means that the
economic irrationality of institutional segregation, when it does occur, is
likely to appear more striking. This last mentioned point becomes the more
important since the North, being more law-abiding and having to take the
Negro vote into consideration, will usually have to carry on segregation
without much financial compensation from discrimination. The second
great cause of difference is that in the South Institutional segregation is in
the laws of the states and of the local communities and thus allows for
few individual exceptions. In the North institutional segregation, arising
out of personal distaste for Negroes and as a consequence of residential
segregation, is entirely extra-legal and often illegal.
Every Southern state and most Border states have structures of state laws
and municipal regulations which prohibit Negroes from using the same
schools, libraries, parks, playgrounds, railroad cars, railroad stations, sections
of streetcars and buses, hotels, restaurants and other facilities as do the
whites.® In the South there are, in addition, a number of sanctions other
than the law for enforcing institutional segregation as well as etiquette.
Officials frequently take it upon themselves to force Negroes into a certain
action when they have no authority to do so. The inability of Negroes to get
justice in the courts extends the powers of the police in the use of physical
force. Beating and other forms of physical violence may be perpetrated by
almost any white man without much fear of legal reprisal.’^ Equally impor-
tant sanctions are the organized threat and the risk of Negroes getting the
reputation of being ^‘bad” or ‘^uppity,” which makes precarious all future
relations with whites. The Negroes reliance on the tolerance of the white
community for his economic livelihood and physical security makes these
threats especi^ly potent.
As long as the Supreme Court upholds the principle established In its
decision in 1883 declare the federal civil rights legislation void, the Jim
•See Chapter 28, Section 9. For a survey of these laws and of the extent of the variations
in law and judicial procedure in these matters, the reader is referred to Charles S, Mangum’s
recent book, The Legal Status of phe Negro (
x
^^o)
,
‘Sec Part Vh
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