The 'Father of Harlem' was a radical capitalist

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  • Опубліковано 15 вер 2024
  • Best known as the "father of Harlem," Philip Payton, jr. (1876-1917) was guided by the theory that free markets penalize bigotry.
    Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.
    ----
    The former residents of two square blocks at West 98th and 99th Streets in Manhattan have been holding annual neighborhood reunions since the mid-1950s, when the federal government bulldozed their homes in a "slum clearance project" spearheaded by Robert Moses.
    This formerly all-black enclave was home to an A-list of black artists and intellectuals, including singer Billie Holiday, historian Arturo Schomburg, poet James Weldon Johnson, and actor Robert Earl Jones. Bordering Central Park, the community was settled in 1905 in an area with modern housing and easy access to the city's brand new subway.
    The founder of the community was an African-American realtor named Philip Payton Jr., also known as "the father of Harlem." His role in the formation of what would later become the cultural capital of black America is well established. Less appreciated is the economic philosophy that guided his life's work.
    Payton was an unabashed free-marketeer whose approach, as one headline writer put it, was "to make the color line costly." He believed that property owners participating in racial covenants could be forced to pay a penalty in a competitive marketplace, and that even bigoted landlords might choose "profit over prejudice" when faced with the choice.
    "Race prejudice is a luxury, and like all other luxuries, can be made very expensive in New York City," Payton wrote in his company prospectus.
    Click here for full text and links: reason.com/rea...
    Video written, produced, and edited by Jim Epstein.
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 126

  • @TheCoconutCookie
    @TheCoconutCookie 6 років тому +326

    These are the men we should be hearing about in black history

    • @mygenderisapache3147
      @mygenderisapache3147 6 років тому +13

      TheCoconutCookie They are too educated and well spoken and probably not black enough... MLK JR was an Uncle Tom didn't you know!

    • @jupiterfive1331
      @jupiterfive1331 6 років тому +8

      I know blacks complain about getting a short black history month in February, but I'm still waiting for a white history month where a person tell's about a invention some poor struggling white person invented, no one ever announces that during a commercial break, but blacks get it.

    • @on1yadam
      @on1yadam 6 років тому

      TheCoconutCookie right

    • @syntaxusdogmata3333
      @syntaxusdogmata3333 6 років тому +3

      Jupiter Five - That's "equality" for you!

    • @bluesilkk
      @bluesilkk 6 років тому +2

      FOR REAL

  • @chubbyninja842
    @chubbyninja842 6 років тому +68

    People fail to remember that Jim Crow was imposed by government mandate ... not by the market. Whe you bring market forces to bear ... discrimination is far more difficult to impose.

    • @Tusk_Tact
      @Tusk_Tact Рік тому

      Jim Crow itself was a response to the political power Black folks had become during Reconstruction. Yet we still have the same narrative in our community today, that politics is the answer if only we could assert our power within. I scratch my head at this notion due to the reality of Jim Crow. I think this gentleman understood that there was another vector to fight within, Capitalism

  • @Wrigggy
    @Wrigggy 6 років тому +22

    This man gets free markets. Top bloke.

  • @southbaylibertarian
    @southbaylibertarian 6 років тому +32

    I've never heard of this man but I always told my hardcore liberal friends that the free market always beat prejudice no law made by the government will be able to

  • @darthutah6649
    @darthutah6649 6 років тому +8

    And people say we need government to stop discrimination.

  • @steamknife1
    @steamknife1 6 років тому +8

    Philip Payton Jr. should be THE role model for BLM. He takes actions and wins in the game of capitalism.

    • @wheel-man5319
      @wheel-man5319 Рік тому +1

      BLM is a communist organization that is racist to it's core.

  • @pennsylvaniagazette124
    @pennsylvaniagazette124 6 років тому +24

    10/10 Capitalism is colorblind.

  • @kirmie44
    @kirmie44 6 років тому +36

    Remember when Trump was a verb, not a noun. The good old days... Extremely well done video

    • @hailmary7283
      @hailmary7283 6 років тому

      Given that it was NYC and given the Trump family's bigoted history, I expected Payton to be profiting off of him at some point in the video.

    • @wheel-man5319
      @wheel-man5319 Рік тому +1

      @@hailmary7283 Living in the past is not learning from the past.

  • @brainfat1
    @brainfat1 6 років тому +28

    Fighting racial prejudice with racial prejudice is rarely good, but here, as a tactic in a small battle it was wise. As a strategy it is poisonous.
    BTW, why does this guy not at least have a plaque? If I were a business owner in Harlem I would erect a statue of him in front of my place.

    • @divinecomedian2
      @divinecomedian2 Рік тому

      The only problem I have is that he kicked out whites because they were white. So this guy was a racist too? Fuck that

  • @Jkp1321
    @Jkp1321 6 років тому +47

    Booker T. Washington had the same ideas. Washington and King should be the most understood black civil rights leaders but instead the voluntary segregationalism that W.E.B. DuBois and Malcolm X and the Black Panthes fostered did much damage

    • @WithoutRemorse12
      @WithoutRemorse12 6 років тому +3

      Josh Patterson Martin Luther King was a Socialist. Months before he died he was embarking on plans to start a Poor people's campaign.

    • @Reub3
      @Reub3 6 років тому

      I read that as black panties lol

    • @shawndoe3806
      @shawndoe3806 6 років тому

      Its sad that these great men are hidden from us.

    • @TheZeroDestroyer
      @TheZeroDestroyer Рік тому

      I disagree. Jews and Asians are THE most successful exactly because they practice economic favoritism amongst themselves which is a good thing. You can’t throw all your economic power out the door then complain about other people not investing in YOUR community. Insanity

    • @dannytaylor1929
      @dannytaylor1929 Рік тому

      Sad facts

  • @JoeCiliberto
    @JoeCiliberto 6 років тому +16

    Damn, every now and then ReasonTV actually tells the unvarnished truth. Now if we could get people of all color to learn to live together where these great heroes will become a revered part of sad history, and not a desperate part of our longings.

  • @PurestPosition
    @PurestPosition 6 років тому +11

    An excellent piece. Thank you, Reason!

  • @Knightmessenger
    @Knightmessenger 3 роки тому +3

    Why have I never heard of this man before?

  • @mygenderisapache3147
    @mygenderisapache3147 6 років тому +26

    *Are you telling me black people in America can become successful, Amazing!*

    • @nakul0888
      @nakul0888 6 років тому +3

      muh ethnostate! muh ethnostate......!

    • @artemiasalina1860
      @artemiasalina1860 6 років тому +8

      Like with anyone else their chances of success improve when government leaves them alone.

    • @platonically
      @platonically 6 років тому

      Yeah man pretty much especially people like Morgan Freeman, Will Smith, Kevin harts,Kanye west, Ice Cube, Samuel L Jackson. They aren't blacks who are successful just successful people who happen to be black. We have a system that we either capitalize on or unrationilize with.

    • @platonically
      @platonically 6 років тому

      I know this is a joke I just wanted to use words that I used in Google.

    • @kas3583
      @kas3583 4 роки тому +1

      Yea they can and so many more would have if not for hundreds of years of slavery and another 100 of legalized discrimination during the time when this nation was developing into an industrial powerhouse.

  • @imout671
    @imout671 6 років тому +8

    I owner finance houses and I can sell to whoever I wish no matter who comes first. I take a month or so to decide from all the applications and look for the best fit and who's got the cash and longest steady employment. I can tell you now you can't guess by skin color. I once had a Mexican yard man put 15k down on a house. A young black guy might look like a thug but have his own business and be very sharp. I've had nice looking white people who want you to hold a house and they haven't saved 100.00

    • @therasheck
      @therasheck 6 років тому +1

      Russ Cherry
      My good friend had a hard time understanding down payments, and I struggled to explain it till I remembered the saying. "You have to prove you have blood in the game"

  • @burtonh1
    @burtonh1 6 років тому +2

    Very smart and shrood businessman.

  • @BlackishBear
    @BlackishBear Рік тому +3

    Seeing a pattern. All white neighborhood with a vacancy, black family pays just as much in rent, but as this happens and more blacks move in the property values decrease, whites don't want to pay big money to live there and go elsewhere creating more space and cheaper rents for more blacks as the pattern repeats. The blacks don't own these areas and benefit from all the white money leaving as rents won't push up. The neighborhood ends up turning into a slum and gets bulldozed. Somehow I dont see this as something anyone would want to highlight.

    • @whousa642
      @whousa642 Рік тому

      Nonsense

    • @rockfire1669
      @rockfire1669 Рік тому

      Sorry to burst your bubble, the black families moved in while paying more in rent. They did not pay an equal amount nor a lesser amount.

    • @BlackishBear
      @BlackishBear Рік тому

      @@rockfire1669 I don't see how that's shattering my bubble. The overall pattern remains the same. Even if initially some landlord charged a racist fee

  • @tootriv211
    @tootriv211 5 років тому +2

    And now Harlem is completely gentrified.👍🏿

  • @furtim1
    @furtim1 6 років тому +1

    What he did would probably constitute "blockbusting" and "steering", which are now illegal.

  • @thomasinns6971
    @thomasinns6971 Рік тому

    Mad respect.

  • @bluegrass4840
    @bluegrass4840 Рік тому

    That's was a nice video. Learned about someone new. Keep em coming

  • @theparadigm8149
    @theparadigm8149 Рік тому

    NAZBOLS and Bleeding-Heart Libertarians: “I KNEW IT! I’m not an idiot, I’m just ahead of the curve!” 😎

  • @Minutemanly
    @Minutemanly Рік тому

    Very cool!

  • @TreDogOfficial
    @TreDogOfficial 6 років тому +2

    The invisible hand has no color

  • @huntdon
    @huntdon Рік тому +1

    99th was bulldozed and deemed a slum?

    • @ReasonTV
      @ReasonTV  Рік тому

      Yes. More details in this video: ua-cam.com/video/mWGwsA1V2r4/v-deo.html

  • @inowhy1930
    @inowhy1930 6 років тому

    Awesome!! More please

  • @nyarmusa1361
    @nyarmusa1361 5 років тому

    That part about charging blacks more rent. Didn't quite sit well, but not new.

  • @kevinmckinney166
    @kevinmckinney166 6 років тому

    Awesome

  • @Skilliard
    @Skilliard 6 років тому +1

    You could do the same thing now, to a much greater extent, by utilizing sex offenders to scare neighbors into selling their homes and driving down property values, and having them move in and out of locations to manipulate property values. That is a "free market" means of earning a profit, but in that particular case, there can be considered a justifable reason for fleeing.

    • @benedikta.9121
      @benedikta.9121 6 років тому

      Skill Graal That practice of block busting has been made illegal now.

    • @Yellowgary
      @Yellowgary Рік тому

      Well that just means the price becomes lower for other capitalists to come in and outbid the block buster. Totally fair game.
      The block buster also makes a loss by reducing the value of his property and the sex offender will be less likely to pay the property owner than a upstanding citizen. Meaning he will be more likely to lose his property.

  • @phillip76
    @phillip76 6 років тому

    All this really show is that if you are willing to pay more, or are rich, then there is not racial discrimination. No racial discrimination for the upper middle class, but if you are poor, or middle class blacks, you are out of luck?

  • @quentinapplin6380
    @quentinapplin6380 Рік тому

    lol he dropped the suit and joined her like you say how much they pay🧐😭🤣

  • @mikeissweet
    @mikeissweet 6 років тому +1

    The free market at work ☺

    • @jan_de_witt
      @jan_de_witt Рік тому

      If the market were actually free, people would pay enormous premiums to live in white-only neighborhoods.

  • @ohevshalomel
    @ohevshalomel 6 років тому

    Ha! I love it. What an ingenious way of desegregating.

  • @EmoryM
    @EmoryM 6 років тому

    Looks like significant admixture.

  • @divinusnobilite
    @divinusnobilite 6 років тому +1

    Have you been to Harlem lately? There are fewer titles more insulting than the "founder of Harlem."

    • @ellimest
      @ellimest 5 років тому

      Ancile are you familiar with Seneca Village?

  • @thehazelnutbar
    @thehazelnutbar 6 років тому

    Great video! Thank you ReasonTV!

  • @youngmanoldman32
    @youngmanoldman32 Рік тому

    racism aside this just shows an investor using racial prejudice to squeeze renters for more money than he could otherwise have

    • @andrewgeissinger5242
      @andrewgeissinger5242 Рік тому

      Unlike the government, he wasn't forcing anyone to do anything. The reason people would want to rent his buildings is because he was offering a better deal than they could get elsewhere. That should be applauded.

  • @godbodyjones
    @godbodyjones Рік тому

    Netflix special

  • @TheRedBaron1917
    @TheRedBaron1917 6 років тому +1

    Hey guys check out this based black guy!!!

  • @kredit787
    @kredit787 6 років тому +6

    Its a preference to live amongst your own kind, and doesn't imply anything negative.

    • @dreamydisaster
      @dreamydisaster 6 років тому +2

      Олeжек who is your own? If all pf humanity isnt your own wheres your humanity?

  • @SniperDizzyJohny
    @SniperDizzyJohny Рік тому +1

    Isnt africa more free market than usa and eu?
    Lot of places wuth literally no state presence.
    That place still sucks

    • @tonyl3762
      @tonyl3762 Рік тому +1

      free market is not equivalent to no state

    • @andrewgeissinger5242
      @andrewgeissinger5242 Рік тому

      No, most of it isn't more free market. Maybe Botswana is, but that's apparently the exception. Too many rules in most of Africa and too many rules is the opposite of a free market.
      ua-cam.com/video/eqD3QbzSsIs/v-deo.html

  • @aylamease2974
    @aylamease2974 6 років тому

    Lemons from lemonade 🙃

  • @SuperFinGuy
    @SuperFinGuy 6 років тому +1

    Gentrification!
    Sarcasm :)

  • @gwentReznor
    @gwentReznor Рік тому +1

    Free market capitalism didn't end segregation. Free market capitalism was probably one of the biggest driving factors as to why Southern slave owners went to war to protect slavery. Ya, you can exploit the system for your own gain if you have the resources to do so. The problem is there weren't a lot of rich black people like this guy to help lift black people out of the financial oppression that was inflicted on them for generations. The free market says black people aren't owed anything for years of oppression and subjugation because it's not profitable to pay out dues for centuries of exploitation. If it was left wholly to the free market, black people still wouldn't be allowed in white restaurants.

    • @andrewgeissinger5242
      @andrewgeissinger5242 Рік тому +1

      If there is slavery, that is NOT a free market. And why do you think it is a profitable business model to refuse to serve some potential customers who want to pay you money?

    • @gwentReznor
      @gwentReznor Рік тому

      ​@@andrewgeissinger5242 Ya man, I agree that bigotry really cuts in to your profits. Crazy how people still discriminated despite that. Kind of revealing that you think profitable business models are the driving motivation here. But history clearly shows that there are many ways to exploit/infringe upon people''s rights for profit. Quick question, how does a completely free market prevent someone with enough wealth and power from starting their own slave trade if they have more PMC's than you do?
      And what would you call slave-owners? crony-capitalist? What's the difference? How do you prevent crony-capitalism?

    • @rockfire1669
      @rockfire1669 Рік тому

      @@andrewgeissinger5242 Okay yeah, can you restate that. You are claiming the USA isn’t free market capitalism.

  • @JakeShadowCitizen
    @JakeShadowCitizen 6 років тому

    👍👍👏👏👏👏👏

  • @petereberle
    @petereberle 6 років тому

    So all of the white tenants wanting to move out doesn’t create additional turnover costs for the owner? This sounds like only PART of the story.

  • @matrixman8582
    @matrixman8582 6 років тому +5

    Rap music = libertarian music

    • @smartchip
      @smartchip 6 років тому +2

      Matrix Man yeah, like having guns, hustling, narcotics drugs, being a G, whoes and Daddies, bop bop bop,

    • @mistermood4164
      @mistermood4164 6 років тому +5

      rappers do not glorify the government intervention nor welfare, rape promotes making your keep in this world and enjoying it.
      that is the essence of libertarianism

    • @ronnieDaking
      @ronnieDaking 6 років тому +2

      Mister Mood
      Rape?

    • @mistermood4164
      @mistermood4164 6 років тому +1

      *rap