Robinson, Randall (1941–)

Writer and founder of the TransAfrica Forum who has called for the United States to pay financial reparations to African Americans as restitution for the institution of slavery. Robinson is not the first person to call for financial reparations for African Americans. In 1969, James Forman, in his “Black Manifesto,” demanded $500 million in reparations to be paid to African Americans by white churches. However, Robinson is certainly the best known of those who feel that reparations are in order. His book, The Debt (2000), demands compensation to atone not just for the years of slavery but also for the imbalances, injustices, and discrimination that have kept blacks at a disadvantage when compared with whites.

Robinson graduated from Harvard Law School in 1970, intent on making his mark on society. As a political activist and founder of the TransAfrica Forum, which sought to influence U.S. policies toward Africa and the Caribbean, Randall became increasingly discouraged by what he saw as the pervasiveness of discrimination. As a result of these reflections, Randall wrote Defending the Spirit (1998), a searing memoir that gives a vivid account of racism in contemporary America.

Robinson's next book was The Debt, detailing his conviction that reparations must be made to African Americans. He went on to write The Reckoning: What Blacks Owe to Each Other (2002), in which he criticizes prominent and wealthy blacks for not banding together to act substantively to end the poverty and crime that afflict African American communities. He maintains that racial disharmony cannot be solved until these fundamental wrongs are addressed and righted—until “The Debt” is paid in full.

Robinson's latest book, Quitting America: The Departure of a Black Man From His Native Land (2004), tells of Robinson's decision to leave the United States for good and to settle on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts, where his wife was born. From the perspective of his new life on the peaceful tropical island, where most of the residents are of African descent, Robinson continues his critique of American society.