Randall Robinson
About Randall Robinson
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THE CASE FOR REPARATIONS
The word “reparations” triggers strong, visceral reactions in many Americans. This is entirely normal in light of the four centuries of misunderstanding, misinformation, and essential distrust that have, with individual exceptions of course, bedeviled relations between black and white America.
The U.S. educational system has ensured that very few Americans – black or white – know very much about either the 247 years of American slavery or the 100 years of government-enshrined, devastating anti-black laws that followed. What everyone CAN see, however, without having a clue as to the underlying causes, are the dramatic and glaring human costs of this 347-year reality.
We are, nonetheless, the United States of America. In an increasingly globalized world, a world of rapid ascendency on the part of many formerly “non-dominant” nations, it behooves all Americans, if we wish to live in an internally strong and stable nation, to find a way, as President Lyndon Johnson urged, to “bind up our wounds . . . heal our history . . . and make this nation whole.”
The first step along this path must be truth – delivered without rancor, received without rage. The second step should be reason – entered into as sentient, humane beings. And the third would be action – mutually agreed upon out of a respect for self, for the other, for the nation.
On many levels, our nation is in need of healing. And a calm discussion of the basis and meaning of reparations can help in our quest to, at last, create a more perfect union.
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Books by Randall Robinson
“Makeda” (2011)
Makeda Gee Florida Harris March is a proud matriarch, the anchor and emotional bellwether who holds together a hard-working African American family living in 1950s Richmond, Virginia. Lost in shadow is Makeda's grandson Gray, who begins escaping into the magical world of Makeda's tiny parlor. Makeda, a woman blind since birth but who has always dreamed in color, begins to confide in Gray the things she "sees" and remembers from her dream state, and a story emerges that is layered with historical accuracy beyond the scope of Makeda's limited education. Gradually, Gray begins to make a connection between his gr Part coming-of-age story, part spiritual journey, and part love story, Makeda is a universal tale of family, heritage, and the ties that bind. Randall Robinson plumbs the hearts of Makeda and Gray and summons our collective blood memories, taking the reader on an unforgettable journey of the soul that will linger long after the last page has been turned.
“An Unbroken Agony: Haiti, from Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President” (2008)
On February 29, 2004, the first democratically elected president of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was forced to leave his country. The president was kidnapped, along with his Haitian-American wife, by American soldiers and flown to the isolated Central African Republic. In An Unbroken Agony, best-selling author and social justice advocate Randall Robinson chronicles his own cross-Atlantic journey to rescue the Haitian president from captivity in Africa while also connecting the fate of Aristide's presidency to the Haitian people's century-long quest for self-determination.
“Quitting America” (2004)
A distinguished African-American activist and author describes his decision to leave America for a life in the Caribbean, sharing his need to escape the racism he has fought all his life for a more peaceful locale and discussing the current state of socioeconomic and political affairs in America.
“The Reckoning” (2002)
In The Reckoning, Randall Robinson examines the crime and poverty that grips much of urban America and urges black Americans to speak out and reach back to ensure their social and economic success in this country. With insight, compassion, and unflinching honesty, Robinson explores the twin blights of crime and poverty—the former often a symptom of the latter—and asks questions that are critical to the rebuilding of black communities: How do we create awareness of the heroic efforts already being made and how can we bring our troubled youth to safety? A product of Robinson’s work with gang members, ex-convicts, and others who have been scarred by the harshness of life in our inner cities,
“The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks” (2001)
Both an unflinching indictment of past wrongs and an impassioned call to America to educate its citizens about the history of Africa and its people, The Debt says in no uncertain terms what white America owes blacks—and what blacks owe themselves. In this powerful and controversial book, distinguished African-American political leader and thinker Randall Robinson argues for the restoration of the rich history that slavery and segregation severed. Drawing from research and personal experience, he shows that only by reclaiming their lost past and proud heritage can blacks lay the foundation for their future. And white Americans can begin making reparations for slavery and the century of racial discrimination that followed with monetary restitution, educational programs, and the kinds of equal opportunities that will ensure the social and economic success of all citizens.
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