White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism

by Kevin M. Kruse

This supposed disparity between the tax burdens of whites and blacks took on a strongly racist tone, as whites charged that they unfairly bore the financial burden for a welfare system that catered to blacks. “I believe in them having good things but in their own negro sections and I believe in them working by the sweat of their brow as ‘God’ states in the Bible instead of hand-outs from White organizations,” one man complained. “Welfare office, etc. give them about $50 of white peoples tax money for every illegitimate ‘youngster’ they have & do they breed fast?” “A majority of negro women have no morals and breed like swine,” another agreed, “and the white people of the city are taxed to keep them and their illegitimate offspring up.” Segregationists used this popular sentiment to disparage blacks’ calls for desegregation and other civil rights measures.