The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks [Mass Market Paperback]

Randall Robinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2001

The national bestseller by the author of Defending the Spirit.

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 make 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 its citizens.

In a book that is both an unflinching indictment of past wrongs and an impassioned call to our nation to educate all Americans about the history of Africa and its people, Robinson makes a persuasive case for the debt white America owes blacks, and the debt blacks owe themselves.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Randall Robinson, the founder and president of TransAfrica (a lobbying organization dedicated to influencing U.S. policy toward Africa and the Caribbean), recounted his heroic struggle to fight and overcome racism in the magnificent Defending the Spirit. In his triumphant follow-up, The Debt, he goes further than any previous black public figure in calling for reparations to African-Americans for the present-day racism that stems from 246 years of slavery. Citing compensation that Jews and Japanese Americans have received, he writes, "No race, ethnic or religious group has suffered as much over so long a span as blacks have and do still, at the hands of those who benefited ... from slavery and the century of legalized American racial hostility that followed it." In making his case, Robinson utilizes facts and figures that highlight the disparity between African-Americans and whites. While fully recognizing the monumental odds of this movement's success, Robinson feels that the push for reparations will also greatly benefit African-Americans in nonmaterial ways: "Even the making of a well-reasoned case for restitution will do wonders for the spirit of African-Americans," he argues. "It will cause them to at long last understand the genesis of their history--before, during, and after slavery--into one story of themselves." --Eugene Holley Jr. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

As founder and president of TransAfrica, an organization aimed at influencing U.S. policies toward Africa and the Caribbean, Robinson can be said to have contributed to the antiapartheid movement and the restoration of democracy in Haiti. Having vividly outlined the pervasiveness of American racism in his previous work, Defending the Spirit, he now summons America to acknowledge what he casts as its financial obligation to blacks for centuries of slavery and continued subjugation. Substantiating his analysis of America's ignorance of African history and the agenda of the Clinton administration with personal stories that illustrate the impact of de facto discrimination, he reveals slavery's legacy not only in our social and political lives, but also in the American psyche. In Robinson's view, the incessant deification of the founding fathers (many of whom owned slaves) and the denial of the benefits gained from centuries of slave labor are, in effect, an attempt to pretend "that America's racial holocaust never occurred." Juxtaposing domestic racism with the sufferings of people abroad, he contends that America's dubious foreign policy initiatives in Cuba and throughout the black world should be mitigated through debt relief. Methodically tackling one issue at a time, Robinson suggests the creation of a trust to assist in the educational and economic empowerment of African-Americans. Whether readers agree or disagree with his views, Robinson has made a definitive step in presenting these controversial and still unresolved issues. Book club rights sold to Doubleday/Black Expressions; author tour. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Plume (January 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452282101
• ISBN-13: 978-0452282100
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (98 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #88,652 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars specious and divisive, June 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Debt : What America Owes to Blacks (Hardcover)

I read this book after coming across the title at amazon and became quite intrigued by the premise so I picked up the book from the library and began to read. Very quickly I became very skeptical and eventually incredulous about the arguments put fourth in this book. For example, I personally am an all American mutt and don't even know most of my lineage but I certainly don't consider myself in either the "white" or the "black" camps or anything else that specific. I suppose that my skin color is tan but a few shades lighter than milk chocolate so I suppose that I might be considered a tan white or a light black with straight dark hair or an Arab or Hispanic whatever. I know that I have one grandmother that was black and my father is Lebanese American. The rest of my family might be "white" but I really don't know or care and I honestly hadn't given it much thought before reading this book. While reading this book, I thought to myself, does the fact that I have a black grandmother entitle me to 1/4 debt from my guilt ridden "white self" to my poor oppressed "black self"? Also, along these same personal lines, my brother-in-law is black, or at least he looks one hundred percent black, and my sister is 1/4 black like me. Does this mean that their daughter (my niece) is 1/4 black + 1/2 black = 3/4 black which would mean then that the guilt ridden white 1/4 of herself owes the poor oppressed 3/4 of herself? This argument is specious no matter how oppressed Africans were by a minority of rich Southern whites who are all long dead because no person can owe a debt to a another that s/he has never in any way committed an injustice. The masters and slaves are all dead and we don't even know who the masters descendants are (It is a historical fact that slave owners in the ante-bellum south were a tiny minority of the white population). About my score, I gave the book 3 stars because the writing is quite good = 5 stars but then I totally disagree with the premise of this book = -2 stars. Only -2 stars since it is only my difference of opinion that makes me critical of this book. Perhaps if I could only change the percentages of color within myself I might better understand the author's argument and feel more entitled or more obligated concerning this "debt".

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars specious and divisive, June 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Debt : What America Owes to Blacks (Hardcover)

I read this book after coming across the title at amazon and became quite intrigued by the premise so I picked up the book from the library and began to read. Very quickly I became very skeptical and eventually incredulous about the arguments put fourth in this book. For example, I personally am an all American mutt and don't even know most of my lineage but I certainly don't consider myself in either the "white" or the "black" camps or anything else that specific. I suppose that my skin color is tan but a few shades lighter than milk chocolate so I suppose that I might be considered a tan white or a light black with straight dark hair or an Arab or Hispanic whatever. I know that I have one grandmother that was black and my father is Lebanese American. The rest of my family might be "white" but I really don't know or care and I honestly hadn't given it much thought before reading this book. While reading this book, I thought to myself, does the fact that I have a black grandmother entitle me to 1/4 debt from my guilt ridden "white self" to my poor oppressed "black self"? Also, along these same personal lines, my brother-in-law is black, or at least he looks one hundred percent black, and my sister is 1/4 black like me. Does this mean that their daughter (my niece) is 1/4 black + 1/2 black = 3/4 black which would mean then that the guilt ridden white 1/4 of herself owes the poor oppressed 3/4 of herself? This argument is specious no matter how oppressed Africans were by a minority of rich Southern whites who are all long dead because no person can owe a debt to a another that s/he has never in any way committed an injustice. The masters and slaves are all dead and we don't even know who the masters descendants are (It is a historical fact that slave owners in the ante-bellum south were a tiny minority of the white population). About my score, I gave the book 3 stars because the writing is quite good = 5 stars but then I totally disagree with the premise of this book = -2 stars. Only -2 stars since it is only my difference of opinion that makes me critical of this book. Perhaps if I could only change the percentages of color within myself I might better understand the author's argument and feel more entitled or more obligated concerning this "debt".

21 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Lots of Anecdotes, Little Else!!, January 27, 2001

By 

tony suggs (Antioch, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks (Mass Market Paperback)

Mr Robinson could have helped blacks much better by explaining how he was able to overcome his impovished childhood than to endlessly drone on about how slavery has effected every black in America today. To simply state over and over again that slavery caused children in 1975 Boston or a 9 year old in 1999 Virginia to fail in school is utter nonsense. We, the parents of our black children, as my parents taught my siblings and me, are responsible for our own education. If slaves risked being killed by their owners if they were caught reading, still perservered, then no matter how bad public or private schools are today, children can still learn if they and their parents put in the effort! Mr Robinson decries how the US and the IMF has destroyed African nations by subjecting them to conditions that are not favoable to them when they accept developmental loans. Yet, he wants American blacks to demand and accept money from the US government to "educate" us on how slavery has robbed us of our history. How was Mr Robinson able to learn the "facts" about slavery, the great African empires and the relatively recent history on Amercian slavery? Can not the rest of us learn without handouts from Uncle Sam? Finally, Mr. Robinson left out one of the most important factors of black helplessness. That is we, me too until Bill Clinton took office, continue to elect public leaders that make promise after promise with no accountiblity to us at all. The Democrats know that they have the black vote and the Republicans know they can never get it. So, why should either give a damn! The debt may have been created by others, but we have perpetuated it ourselves!