The alleged racism of cabdrivers who refuse to pick up black males is a virtually mandatory entry in the ledger of discrimination maintained by many black scholars and activists.

As an African American, I am fed up with some taxicabs, fed up with having to flag down five cabs before finding one that will take me home, fed up with feeling anger, embarrassment and frustration when cabdrivers swear they are off-duty and then pick up a white customer before I can get around the corner. Taxi drivers, many of whom come from Africa, the Caribbean and the Middle East, say they don’t want to pick up African American passengers because they are afraid of being robbed, assaulted or murdered. One cabdriver told me he only picks up African Americans who are well dressed and look like businessmen. For African Americans, this discrimination can be inconvenient and downright humiliating.

The law in the District of Columbia and many other cities penalizes taxi drivers who discriminate on the basis of race. The Washington, D.C., human rights department has an official procedure for investigating complaints of drive-by discrimination. The district’s taxicab commissioner employs a dozen full-time inspectors to patrol the streets hailing cabs and recording the license numbers of those who discriminate in the way they treat passengers. The usual fine is $500 for a first offense; future wrongdoing can lead to a suspended license.

While we can be sure that racist taxi drivers would discriminate, it is not clear that all taxi drivers who discriminate are racist. Indeed cabdriver discrimination cannot be viewed as a simple case of irrational punishment; it turns out that legitimate competing interests are at stake. African American males have a right to be concerned about their convenience and dignity, but cabdrivers too are entitled to care about their property and safety. In these situations, are cabdrivers intolerant, or are young black males intolerable? Whose rights should prevail?