Bank Kicks Out The Black Man, Not Realizing He's Their Boss

a kid named Bernard Garrett works as a Sho shine boy near the main bank in a small town in Texas it is 1939 the height of racial discrimination in America the young man does his work leisurely on purpose to overhear the conversations of the bank's employees and customers after finishing his work he writes down in a notebook everything he has learned one day when he overhears the conversation of Bankers near the window and finds out how they estimate the value of mortgaged Real Estate he is noticed by the chauffeur of one of the bank's clients

SP on these white people's business and drives the boy away threatening to tell his father about it in the evening his father realizes that his child is endowed with a special intelligence having investigated the son's notebook but admits that he is unlikely to get rich because the whites simply will not allow it 15 years later having raised enough money Bernard with his wife and son moves from the conservative state of Texas to the more democratic California in Los Angeles they they stay with his wife's uncle in a small room for a modest fee the uncle

suggests that Bernard get a job in a factory but the guy is serious about getting into real estate in Los Angeles which draws a scoff from the uncle when Bernard went to tuck his son the uncle tries to teach his niece a lesson but she stands proudly for her spouse munas what does your husband have against working if we need to supplement our income until he finds the right property I'll work at the Plantation Club but if he's a real man he won't let you that won't be for him to deide my husband is a

genius you'll see Bernie then promises his wife that he will get her and their son out of that Barn as soon as possible the next day Bernard drives his cousin to work where he meets a bright white kid named Matt you didn't tell me you had a rich uncle nice to meet you hardly rich and I'm his cousin you got a car you're rich to me Bernard examines all the offers on the market and tries to drive down the price he manages to find an apartment building but unfortunately the building needs renovation and and his

money is only enough for the building itself his wife is surprised that her husband is targeting a white neighborhood but Bernard doesn't care at all he realizes that the black neighborhoods are overcrowded and simply bursting at the seams so they will have to be expanded anyway then his wife says she can find an investor she takes him to the Jazz Club Plantation which is owned by an old acquaintance of hers a black Playboy named Joe Morris during the conversation Joe shows off and pokes fun at Bernard this infuriates the man and he leaves Joe's company

in a hurry Bernard tells his wife that such a man is not to be dealt with much less to be borrowed money from she says that he just looks like Nick Fury but he is a good and reliable man moreover he is friends with the city mayor well that's the mayor silly do you want to meet him because he's friends with Joe Bernard has no choice but to go to the owner of the building and try to get the price down the owner turns out to be a very clever businessman with a distinct Irish accent

he wants $40,000 for the building Bernard's efforts to get the price down to $30,000 are unsuccessful then he asks to split the payment into two installments 30,000 are paid straight away and the rest 10,000 when the building will be fully leased my talents won't pay more even if they can see the Reflections in those floors but another Market will black doctors lawyers teachers looking for a place to move outside the ghettos that they've been forced into no one is going after that market but I can Bernard's pressure with and mathematical Talent impress the Irishman but

he's not ready to take the risk and refuses Bernard before leaving Bernard Peaks at the name of the bank on the calendar and the name of the man's personal manager that same afternoon Bernard heads to that very bank and tries to talk to the manager but the secretary blatantly lies to the man right in his face as if trying to get rid of the darkskinned man in a kind of polite form I'm sorry Mr reita out may I take a message I have pretty good eyesight and I can clearly read the name plate on his

desk I'm sorry I misspoke Mr Reed can't meet with you right now but I could take a message then Bernard has to wait for the manager for several hours on the street after a working day Bernard has a dialogue with the manager outside of the bank trying to get a loan he tells the manager about the whole deal in the evening Bernard is ready to give up but the Irishman calls him and starts a conversation with some claims did you use my name to try and get a loan from Mr Reed at Mid City Bank

yes and do you think that follows normal business Customs no good well at least we can agree on that however he gives Bernard good news the manager will give him a loan because the Irishman is ready to act as his guarantor he is impressed by Bernard's drive and realizes that such a determined man can really Succeed in Business this moves the man to tears after the deal is done Bernard's wife drags him to that very Joe Morris jazz club to celebrate a small victory at the club Joe approaches him and in his manner tries to

strike up a conversation with Bernard again starting with a quote unquote side topic I'm not your white you go to every table in here to reassure your patrons of that no might have to skip some of them Joe admits that he likes it when black people succeed and he sees the traits of a successful man in Bernard Bernard and his cousin are making some minor repairs to the house when suddenly a tenant notices him what are you doing here she immediately starts to nag the man but in the course of the conversation Bernard admits that

he bought the house don't you sass me boy this is a white building you can't own this place his cousin's friend Matt joins them but are you okay with working for me money is green that's the only concern about color I got the three of them start working hard but a few hours later the police arrive saying an old woman called them because a black man is impersonating the owner of the building Bernard declares that he is in fact the owner which causes ridicule from from the police then he shows them a copy of the

title deed and the police leave without forgetting to say try to be more respectful to your tenants yes sir officer sorry for the inconvenience in the evening Bernard moves into one of the apartments which causes a wild resentment of that elderly woman she doesn't intend to tolerate the neighborhood with black people so the next day she moves out of her apartment but the apartment doesn't stay empty for long because in a short time a well-to-do black lady moves in Bernard gives the Irishman the remaining money the man offers Bernard a partnership he proposes to buy

up houses thanks to his reputation in the bank and share all the profits 50/50 he is Irish so Americans are reluctant to deal with Him He suggests Bernard to negotiate on the phone as he has a competent speaking skills and he is excellent at bargaining and most importantly good at calculations but when they need a face to sign the deal it'll be the Irishman over time they buy up a huge number of houses throughout the area and business begins to take off Bernard buys a pretty decent house for his wife all the houses are successfully

occupied by solvent people and Bernard's business is booming but as you know the UPS are often followed by the Downs the death of Bernard's partner marked the beginning of that downhill slide after the death of the Irishman his wife is willing to buy out Bernard's interest as she's not going to run the business with a black man she offers an amount four times below the market value Bernard says he owns 50% of the houses but since the agreement between them was only verbal the woman may not pay him anything at all so Bernard has two

choices take what she gives him or try to Sue and possibly end up with nothing in an attempt to find a witness to their Arrangement he goes to the bank manager who refuses to see him because he is already working with the irishman's wife Bernard realizes that he has nothing to gain and heads to the exit at the door he notices a sign with companies that rent offices in this building there are mostly Banks among them he comes up with a bold and almost unrealistic idea to buy the whole building so that no one here

would dare to ignore him his bold idea fueled by a hurt ego makes him leave prejudices and personal principles and turn to Joe Morris Bernard offers Joe to jointly buy the building because he owns a number of commercial buildings in black neighborhoods and understands the commercial real estate market but the witty businessman doesn't want to get into the white territory you know there's not a single blackowned building in Downtown Los Angeles and there's a reason for that now convince me however Bernard convinces him with the phrase that the banks will not dare to refuse them

alone sitting in their building in addition the banks have information about real estate which will make it easier for them to find and evaluate new investment objects surely Joe likes the idea of course no one will want to sell the build building to the black people moreover they will not even communicate with them so they offer Matt to become their representative the guy is frightened by the proposal and says that he will not pull such a role Joe himself having seen this simpleton doesn't believe that the guy can help the case but Bernard is sure

that he can be trained Matt is sitting in a cafe thinking a waitress recognizes him she studied with him in the same school you were a few years ahead of me but I mean everybody knew who you were flirting with the guy the girl is interested in what he is so puzzled with and during the conversation Matt says that he was offered a partnership in the real estate Business Partnership The Humble factory worker felt really proud when he told this to the girl and she also began talking to him respectfully this played a key role

in the final decision he is full of enthusiasm and gladly agrees to the case I'm in businessmen begin to teach the guy all the subtleties of the rich life Joe teaches him to play golf and and make conversations with rich people Bernard tries to explain how multipliers and formulas for Real Estate valuation work seeing the guy's vacant stare Bernard realizes that he needs to start his training with the most basic things maybe we should start with a math review that' be great at first the guy doesn't succeed which disappoints Joe and he realizes that in

a month they will not be able to make him a worthy representative of their interests but gradually the young man begins to demonstrate an excellent ability to learn thanks to his exceptional memory after a month he easily performs complex math calculations without taking off from the game of golf Joe organizes him a game at an elite Golf Club in the city where he allegedly accidentally meets the owner of that very building named Charles Renault after the game Bernard begins to prepare the guy for a business meeting with Renault he explains to him all the bargaining

options all the possible amounts and offers the guy cannot cope with such complex calculations so he just memorizes all the combinations by heart thanks to his excellent memory I just memorize it all of it mhm yeah I got a pretty good memory that good during the meeting with the owner Matt demonstrates excellent awareness of all the financial prospects of the building he floods Renault with his calculations shocking the man with his math skills how do you do this in your head even his accountant with a calculating machine cannot keep up with the guy especially when

you factor in vacancies which are at least 9% less than I counted 12 how could you possibly know that Charles it's November it gets dark by 5:00 p.m. if you want to someone about your vacancy rate you need light shining in all those Unleashed Spaces by 4:30 in the end he drives the businessman into a corner thanks to which he manages to bring down the price from 25 million to 1 and A2 I'll tell you what I'll give you two options we get an 11% Capital return rate and you get your 25% profit in the

markup or we get a 10.5% cap rate and you take an 18% % instead of a 25% markup you can choose but he can't help you the partners celebrate the Victory and immediately start buying houses in white neighborhoods with access to favorable loans the manager who has always ignored Bernard is puzzled at how things can turn out in life they reach really great Heights in the real estate market they own 177 buildings some of which have more than 100 Apartments the sheer amount of real estate in white only areas makes them instrumental in the fight

against housing segregation in Los Angeles they have even personally welcomed the vice president of the country in their building and Matt marries his hottie waitress in 1963 Bernard is already a successful businessman and he comes to his small town in Texas to see his father at that time Texas was the most radical State and the attitude to black people here remained unchanged the father admits he is proud of his son Bernard says that it is easier for blacks to live in California but the man tells his son I don't think it's California these words encourage

the guy the next day he goes for a walk around his town with his son in expensive suits the son is surprised that people stare at them like that lot son separated at the man explains that this place is radically different from California I'm sorry you had to see that they approached the mainland Bank near which Bernard used to shine shoes and gain invaluable knowledge he asks the local shoe shine boy how much a shine but the boy replies only do white folks here sir this once again Spurs the Revolutionary entrepreneur in the evening he

confesses to his wife that he wants to buy the bank so that black people in Texas will have a chance for a decent life after all all banks in Texas create unrealistic credit conditions for black people with their inflated interest rates so that they cannot make loans and thus violate their constitutional rights his wife realizes that if Bernard is up to something he will follow through with that upon arriving to Los Angeles Bernard tries to talk Joe into this Venture but the latter says that it already looks like altruism for black people rather than doing

business what's more under Texas rules they cannot even enter their Bank to control Matt after all blacks are only allowed to enter the bank as the help but seeing that Bernard will still do what he is up to with or without him Joe agrees to this crazy deal they bring Matt to a meeting with the bank owner Robert Florence Joe accompanies Matt under the guise of a chauffeur the owner of the bank is ready to sell his business for an agreed sum with one condition his son Robert Florence Jr must remain in the bank as

a credit expert and the owner retains 20% of the shares everyone is ready for the deal but the owner's disgruntled Offspring asks uncomfortable questions such as why Matt's partners are not present at the deal who are Bernard Garrett and Joseph Morris my financial partner in Los Angeles why aren't they here honestly because they're too rich to bother that's why they have me but despite this the deal goes well and the trio successfully acquires the bank Bernard immediately goes to the black preachers and informs them that he and his Partners have purchased the mainland Bank to

change the bank's policy regarding loans to black people he needs their help to identify responsible potential borrowers in their congregations also everyone must maintain confidentiality Bernard makes do of business and home loans to black people thanks to your loan we bought two new pieces of equipment doubled our Revenue in 3 months but Florence Junior who had hoped to inherit the director's chair from his father is pestering Matt for a large number of new loans he wants to know on what basis and principle Matt is approving loans to these people then Florence Jr starts spying on

his director he finds out that the new loans were given to black people and notices how Matt secretly meets Bernard and reports to him on his progress in the evening Matt is nagged by his wife she is not happy that they have moved to this hole and also he doesn't own the bank himself as the guy originally outlined to her but is just a representative for black Partners I'm making 25,000 a year we bought this house with one month salary you started with them you said they were going to make you a partner yeah and

a partner isn't h a salary a partner's an owner he promises that the next bank they buy will be completely under his control they just have to wait a little bit you're buying another one we're thinking about it yeah that would be something the next day Florence tracks down the businessman's meeting place he breaks into Bernard's house and threatens to tell the residents who really owns the bank and to whom the loans are given all the whites will run to close their deposits and the bank will just collapse then you'd own 20% of a failed

Bank instead of a booming one so we're in this together not quite see my father didn't know he was selling his bank to two Negroes so that's that's fraud both our names were on that bank contract you signed you even asked about us Bernard says that Florence senior knew who they really are then Florence pulls out a notice from the com troller of the currency that their yearly inspection has been moved up two qus early because of an anonymous tip when Florence leaves Matt egged on by his wife suggests that the partners buy another bank

a small one to move all the black people's loans to that bank he has already found a bank and thought through all the deals okay the bank of marlin is small you can purchase it outright for 274,000 the guy explains to the men that this is a good solution but The Prudent Bernard doesn't like such a fuss he realizes that they will not cope with the management of one more Bank Matt demands to entrust the bank completely under his management it's $274,000 of Joe's and my money we should at least have the final say right

I can't become my own man here then I think I need to resign and go back to LA is this you blackmailing us no you guys have taught me so much I just want to be more like you an owner in the end Matt manages to get the management of the new bank by means of pressure Bernard's spouse works as a janitor at the new bank to look after Matt wish they just trust me then you wouldn't have to do you resent me being here a little H do you resent me for wanting to run

my own bank a little Bernard with at train creates a list of loans that need to be resigned at the new bank and instructs Matt to double check all the loans before signing and to work only with their trusted lawyer however Matt having believed in his own skills and Powers decides to step away from their plan he hires a lawyer by the advice of Florence who most likely ratted out the bank to the controller of the currency during the signing of the contracts Matt with a serious facial expression runs through the list of loan agreements

without even bothering to study them properly the guy is worried that he might mess up the the bank's management so he shares these thoughts with his spouse they're lucky to have you no I'm the lucky one I'm learning from people a lot smarter than I am and they're not smarter than you I mean they can't be they're my friends Florence calls him and tells that white customers are coming to Mainland bank and withdrawing all their money because someone told them that the bank gives loans to black people on top of that the examiner of the

controller of the currency starts his inspection in the new bank on the anonymous tip Federal Bank examiner just left my office I thought that wasn't until next month no I meant Marlin not Mainland to get the master books out he's coming back in an hour Bernard in a janitor's uniform tries to help Matt to explain to The Examiner how the transactions in their Bank are carried out but it doesn't help much because the examiner finds loans that such a small Bank cannot own Matt runs out to his Partners in the restroom to get clues for

Action Bernard doesn't understand how these loans got into this Bank how the hell did these loans get in the package I don't know I looked over every individual loan Matt there was nothing over $20,000 nothing over 20 years did you look at the loans when you picked them up I looked through them maybe not carefully enough read the top sheet how the hell did our lawyer miss that oh I I couldn't use o'keef what who exactly did you ask to find this lawyer Florence Florence they understand perfectly well that Florence set it up on purpose

and are surprised that Matt doesn't realize it himself after the check the part ERS decide to sell the small Bank in order to save the mainland bank but Matt isn't ready to give up the bank where he is finally in charge of the whole process I'm not going to lose Marlin there's got to be something I can do Matt keeps screwing up the guy buys the loans back on behalf of the Mainland Bank Joe is informed about that by their trusted Banker who they have worked with for years in La who the hell would pay

face value for those piece of loans Mainland Bank in Willis Texas son of a together with Bernard they rushed to Mainland in order to stop Matt but no sooner do they explain to Matt how badly he screwed up than the deputy controller of the currency bursts into the bank and announced that their banking license has been revoked for suspicious transactions and the bank is being placed in FDIC receivership at the exit of the bank they are caught and arrested by the FBI not without Bernard's resistance in Washington before a public Hearing in the Senate a

lawyer says that they want to use their case to tweak the laws regarding banking so what does that have to do with me you want the stated or the unstated version unstated we need to change these laws now mean quick or like these can own Banks and Loan money to other that in other words they want to use Bernard to tighten control on banking the senator himself talks to Matt and tells him that he needs to cast the blame on his Partners so that he doesn't end up in jail for 50 years Matt does so

at the first hearing he admits that he was manipulated and his Partners was pulling the strings and all these deals were made by him under pressure from Bernard next the senator talks to Bernard and tells him to confess how he deliberately took advantage of a loophole in the law to illegally enrich himself then Congress will fix the laws to favor whites and Bernard will be free but if he decides to take his case to court and rant about racial discrimination he is looking at jail time son I'm from Arkansas you don't have to tell me

that Negroes sometimes get the short end of the stick sometime the second day of the hearing is here Bernard pulls out his janitor's uniform and declares that this is the only way black people can enter a bank in Texas even though the Constitution says all citizens are equal the senator tries his best to interrupt Bernard's speech but the man makes a brilliant speech about the race discrimination why is it so important to you to exclude an entire race of people from the American dream of course the Senate isn't satisfied with such a speech and federal

government seizes their assets following this hearing an all-white jury in Texas convinces them of misappropriation of Bank funds and sentences them to 3 years in federal prison Mt on the other hand remained free Florence purchases the mainland Bank in a sale arranged by the FDIC for a fraction of the cost Bernard and Joe paid Florence's father for it 3 years after their testimony before the Senate Congress passed the Fair Housing Act which made it illegal to refused to sell or rent property on the basis of race religion or gender 3 years later Bernard is released

from prison where he is met by Joe and his wife figures they let you out before me man they couldn't wait to get rid of my ass the men are Overjoyed that they got off easy but Bernard's wife doesn't understand what they're so happy about since they are bankrupt now and then Bernard admits that before the first hearing Matt called him and admitted that the senator pressured him and he would have to testify against Bernard Bernard then asked him for one favor to sell some of their assets and buy him and Joe two mansions in

the Bahamas this was successfully accomplished by Matt friends moved to the Bahamas in their luxurious Mansions this movie is based on a true story I hope you enjoyed it and I'll be extremely happy if you subscribe to my channel