The argument that Negroes receive services out of all
proportion to their tax contribution has been a useful
argument for years for those property owners of means
who have wanted to see no money, or hardly any money,
spent for public school improvement.
Now the argument is being used by sudden friends of
®equal facilities" against integration.
Any cormunity leader charged with the great responsibility
of school administration should examine carefully
the social and economic background of the community which
he serves. If he does that, he will be forced to agree
that with less than a century of freedom from chattel
slavery, the Negro--since he has been forced to remain
in mena;l menial occupations with incomes far less than
that commanded by the white population--has not had an
equal opportunity to acquire property, taxable property.
The school administrator's attention should be directed
to broadening the opportunity for learning of the Negro
and to helping the community in which the Negro lives
find work opportunities which will improve the Negro's
economic condition and so enable him to stand shoulder
to shoulder with his white associates in tax responsibilitye.
To keep the Negro from opportunities of economic gain, ‘
and then charge him with not bearing his share of the tax
burden, is the tactic of the demagogue.