HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle

Walter E. Williams, Free Market Scholar and Iconoclast, RIP

Views: 864
"I just do my own thing," said the George Mason University economist and author of 'The State Against Blacks'.
------------------
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/ReasonTV?sub...
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magaz...
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason

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.
----------------
Walter Williams, the free market economist and iconoclast, died last week at the age of 84. He was so libertarian that he refused to accept the term as a descriptor. In a 2011 interview with Reason, Williams was asked whether he saw himself as part of the libertarian movement to which he had contributed so much. No, he said: "I just do my own thing."

The author of 13 books, Williams was best probably best known for 1982's The State Against Blacks, which documented how government interference in the free market has been especially harmful to black Americans. His 1989 book, South Africa's War Against Capitalism, advanced a similar argument.

Born in 1936, Williams grew up in the Richard Allen Homes, one of Philadelphia's first housing projects. When he was a small child, his father deserted his family. He was brought up by his mother, a high school dropout, and the family spent time on welfare. Williams would later draw a distinction between material poverty and what he called "poverty of the spirit."

He worked as a taxi driver in the City of Brotherly Love, and he was once ordered out of his cab by a white police officer, beaten up, and then charged with disorderly conduct. He was drafted into the Army, and while stationed in Georgia kept getting in trouble—occasionally with his fists—for standing up to the racism of white officers. He came to believe that discrimination should be legal, just as long as it didn't involve government resources.

After the Army, Williams studied economics at California State College, and then went to UCLA for graduate school, where he was exposed to titans of free market economics, including Milton Friedman, James Buchanan, and UCLA's department chair, Armen Alchian. "Flunking economic theory the first time around, I later realized, did have a benefit," he wrote in his 2010 memoir Up From the Projects. "It convinced me that UCLA professors didn't care anything about my race: They'd flunk me just as they'd flunk anyone else who didn't make the grade."

In 1977, Williams started writing a weekly column, which was eventually syndicated in 140 newspapers. He was also a contributor to Reason magazine and served as an emeritus trustee on the board of Reason Foundation, the nonprofit that publishes Reason TV.

For all his individual accomplishments, Williams was especially proud of his role in making George Mason University's economics department a home for free market radicals. His former colleagues have been paying tribute to their mentor and friend. "GMU Econ has lost an iconic and heroic figure," wrote Pete Boettke, adding that Williams "taught with wit and passion the logic of economic reasoning." "He is one of my few heroes," wrote Don Boudreaux.

Rest in peace, Walter Williams.

Narrated by Nick Gillespie. Edited by John Osterhoudt. Additional graphics by Isaac Reese.

Photo: Everett Collection/Newscom
@ReasonVidsfollow
Thumbnail for The Inmates Are Running Venezuela’s Prisons. They've Created Autonomous Micro-Dictatorships.16:04
The Inmates Are Running Venezuela’s Prisons. They've Created Autonomous Micro-Dictatorships.
ReasonVids
852 views
Thumbnail for Covid death actor farts in his/her body bag and tries to get some fresh air on live Tell-A-Vision0:13
Covid death actor farts in his/her body bag and tries to get some fresh air on live Tell-A-Vision
AOU
1294 views
Thumbnail for The double standard of The Young Turds1:36
The double standard of The Young Turds
AOU
855 views
Thumbnail for Self-Control is the Key to Success: John Tierney and Roy Baumeister on Willpower1:02:24
Self-Control is the Key to Success: John Tierney and Roy Baumeister on Willpower
ReasonVids
697 views
Thumbnail for The Government's War on Interns4:03
The Government's War on Interns
ReasonVids
782 views
Thumbnail for Matt Welch on John McCain's Media Misery2:26
Matt Welch on John McCain's Media Misery
ReasonVids
870 views
Thumbnail for Implementing Pot Legalization in Colorado and Washington24:02
Implementing Pot Legalization in Colorado and Washington
ReasonVids
886 views
Thumbnail for Trump's Syria Strike Won't Solve Any Problems But Could Make Everything Worse5:41
Trump's Syria Strike Won't Solve Any Problems But Could Make Everything Worse
ReasonVids
892 views
Thumbnail for OJ0:22
OJ
bestofupgoat
249 views
Thumbnail for Dead Rising 2: Off the Record - Walkthrough Part 17 - Boom Town (Gameplay & Commentary) | theRadBrad13:35
Dead Rising 2: Off the Record - Walkthrough Part 17 - Boom Town (Gameplay & Commentary) | theRadBrad
invidious
295 views
Thumbnail for President-elect Biden's Call with Civil Rights Leaders1:40:18
President-elect Biden's Call with Civil Rights Leaders
picman
1242 views
Thumbnail for How the Government is Making the Opioid Crisis Worse19:51
How the Government is Making the Opioid Crisis Worse
ReasonVids
934 views
Thumbnail for Boston's Mayor Instantly Regrets Asking For Feedback On Her Live Video, Panic Sets In1:23
Boston's Mayor Instantly Regrets Asking For Feedback On Her Live Video, Panic Sets In
AOU
1474 views
Thumbnail for Donald Trump and the Coming Battle Over Legal and Illegal Immigration: Q&A with Shikha Dalmia7:31
Donald Trump and the Coming Battle Over Legal and Illegal Immigration: Q&A with Shikha Dalmia
ReasonVids
853 views
Thumbnail for Citizen vs. Government (Vol. 4)1:50
Citizen vs. Government (Vol. 4)
ReasonVids
818 views
Thumbnail for Halo 4 Gameplay Walkthrough Part 14 - Campaign Mission 6 - Shutdown (H4) | theRadBrad14:47
Halo 4 Gameplay Walkthrough Part 14 - Campaign Mission 6 - Shutdown (H4) | theRadBrad
invidious
306 views
Thumbnail for Is America Too Forgiving? The Case of Lance Armstrong6:56
Is America Too Forgiving? The Case of Lance Armstrong
ReasonVids
902 views
Thumbnail for OY VEY GOYIM YOU CAN'T JUST CHARGE ME WITH WAR CRIMES BECAUSE I SLAUGHTERED THOUSANDS OF KIDS! 0:46
OY VEY GOYIM YOU CAN'T JUST CHARGE ME WITH WAR CRIMES BECAUSE I SLAUGHTERED THOUSANDS OF KIDS!
bestofupgoat
397 views
Thumbnail for Baby you spin me0:33
Baby you spin me
bestofupgoat
452 views
Thumbnail for Vanished Where Is Nicola Bulley?55:26
Vanished Where Is Nicola Bulley?
bestofvid8
390 views
Thumbnail for Thanks to Teachers Unions, Families are Fleeing Traditional Public Schools3:57
Thanks to Teachers Unions, Families are Fleeing Traditional Public Schools
ReasonVids
880 views
Thumbnail for Stossel: Ayn Rand–The Author People Love to Hate4:50
Stossel: Ayn Rand–The Author People Love to Hate
ReasonVids
961 views
Thumbnail for Marijuana Policy in the Trump Era53:38
Marijuana Policy in the Trump Era
ReasonVids
963 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian, reason magazine, reason.com, reason.tv, reasontv
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle