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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Economics - 14. The Negro in Business, the Professions, Public Service and Other White Collar Occupations - 10. Note on Shady Occupations
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332 An American Dilemma
Negroes In ordinary lines of work, and the consequent experience of frus-
tration. This is particularly strong in the North where educational facilities
are flung open to Negroes, and public policy and public discussion are
permeated with the equalitarian principles of the American Creed. The low
expectation on the part of white people generally and the quite common
belief, particularly in the lower classes of whites, that Negroes are "born
criminals” must also have demoralizing effects. The Negroes^ respect for
law and order is constantly undermined by the frequent encroachments
upon Negro rights and personal integrity, permitted in the South and
sometimes in the North,® which are widely publicized throughout the
Negro world by the Negro press. This, and the general experience of exclu-
sion and isolation, makes for a fatalistic sense of not belonging. Quite
ordinarily the Negro is deprived of the feeling that he is a full-fledged
participant in society and that the laws, in this significant sense, are "his”
laws.®® The crowdedness in the Negro ghettos—often bordering white
"red light districts”—the poverty and the economic insecurity, the lack of
wholesome recreation, are the other factors which all work in the direction
of fostering anti-social tendencies. The great unemployment during the
’thirties must have strengthened these tendencies.*^
In addition, we must remember that much of the vice seen in the Negro
community Is there, not for Negroes, but for whites; it is carried on in the
Negro sections because they are disorganized, without adequate police
protection, but with police and politicians looking for graft. This is espe-
cially true of vices other than gambling. Elaborate and expensive brothels
cater to whites®® (who have the money to pay for these pleasures) and are
largely owned by whites.®^ The ordinary Negro streetwalker is in an unpro-
tected,®® economically disadvantaged®® and overcrowded occupation. The
peddling of dope, obscene pictures, and other appurtenances of vice, like
prostitution, is part of organized vice rings owned by whites.
There are no investigations which allow us to gauge what the Negro
underworld means in terms of employment and business opportunities.®®
As to employment, the chances are, as we have pointed out, that, except for
the numbers racket, relatively little employment is given, and that what
there is is accompanied by a low money return and vicious exploitation.
But the numbers racket probably does give a considerable amount of
employment at decent pay. As to the extent and size of the business, we
cannot even have a reasonably substantiated opinion whether "protected”
businesses mean more in the Negro community than in other socially and
economically disadvantaged American groups. The observer can testify
that he sees much of it in the Negro communities of the bigger cities, both
South and North. In the smaller cities and in rural districts, it shades off
into petty poolroom and dance hall businesses.
• See Part VI.
^ Negro crime will be dealt with in Chapter 44, Section a.
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