The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks
by Randall Robinson

Randall Robinson is one of the few courageous people who challenges America to live up to her ideals of democracy and equal treatment for all. This book is long overdue. Robinson provides an accurate account of African-Americans, particularly for those who are negatively inadvertent towards affirmative action and reparations. In the unflinching and bold style characteristic of this man of outstanding integrity, Robinson, in his recent book The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks, pulls no punches. He passionately and effectively puts the issue of race and reparations in clear and concise terms and holds everyone accountable.

Robinson has forced the most powerful lawmakers of this land to alter policies that dealt with the Apartheid regime. He staged rallies for two solid years in front of the South African embassy and the White House that ignited similar anti-Apartheid protests throughout the United States. Those protests pressured Congress to pass an economic sanctions bill against the Apartheid regime and this action brought Apartheid to its knees and led to the release of Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners. Furthermore, Robinson protested the automatic return of Haitian refugees seeking asylum from a brutal military regime that deposed the democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He fasted for 27 days to force change. In his hospital bed, risking death, he received a call from the White House confirming that the Haitian request for political asylum would no longer be ignored.

Recently, Robinson turned his focus to the domestic injustices. In his first book, Defending the Spirit, Robinson recounted his heroic struggles to fight and overcome racism. In his triumphant follow-up, The Debt: What America Owes Blacks, he goes further than most public figures in calling for reparations to African-Americans for present day racism stemming from 300 years of slavery. Robinson makes a compelling argument that the great divide in America stems from the fact that African-Americans earn less money, are less educated, and lag behind Caucasians in practically every area of life. He eloquently states that this divide cannot be bridged without two crucial factors in place. First, he suggests that America take responsibility for the institution of slavery and its visible impact and scars that remain to this day. America must provide redress through reparations. Second, Robinson challenges the African-American community to arm themselves with a comprehensive awareness of their history and a complete understanding of their ongoing contribution to our country and the world.

Robinson's book makes an excellent argument for reparations and offers valid, reasonable solutions to ameliorate the plight of African-Americans. It offers a comprehensive plan for reparations that includes, not just monetary handouts, but funding for education and improved social services. He articulates not only that reparations are long overdue for the hundreds of years of free labor that the African-American ancestors provided, but he also provides an accurate account of historical facts. In fact, Robinson provides an essential tool for generations of African-Americans and freedom -loving people to counter those who have attempted and continue to undermine and negate what African-Americans went through without written evidence to support their claim.

This attitude is the blindness that continues to rear its ugly head in the claims that affirmative action has done tremendous amount for African-Americans, when in fact all it has achieved is to allow a few to prosper. When it comes to those who exercise the power in America today, affirmative action has made an insignificant dent. Of course there is Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jordan, but they are a few exceptions. No one could ever say that twelve percent of the FORBES 500 companies, major newspapers or television stations are owned by African Americans.

As we enter the 21st Century, America is at a crossroads. Will African-Americans ever receive reparations? Probably not in the near future, however, as I concluded long ago from my own life experiences, the fact that your enemies are many and powerful is no reason to stop fighting them anyway. African Americans has to be able to live with themselves and at least tell their children that they put up a good fight, then pass the torch along to them. Certainly, Robinson has brilliantly achieved this goal in his book. He provides generations to come with accurate historical facts on the plight of African Americans that begun 300 years ago which still haunts our nation today. Robinson's book is well-written and well-researched. Unfortunately, many Americans who need to read it won't. It is my hope that those who read it are converted.

Reviewed by Velile Notshulwana
June 2000