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Randall Robinson

Lisa Jewell

The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks Paperback – January 1, 2001

by Randall Robinson (Author)

209 ratings

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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.

“Engaging...Robinson continues an important conversation...His anecdotes support his attempts to reclaim African American heritage and empower African Americans.”—The Washington Post

Print length

272 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Plume
Publication date

January 1, 2001
Dimensions

5.3 x 0.6 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

9780452282100
ISBN-13

978-0452282100
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for The Debt

“A tour de force...Heartfelt, impassioned.”—Emerge

“Incisive...keenly observed, perceptively written.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer

“In a manner strikingly reminiscent of James Baldwin, Robinson combines acute insight, attention to the obvious but overlooked, and unpretentious breadth of vision.”—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Provocative...Lays out the logic behind reparations and addresses the issue from an economic standpoint.”—Chicago Sun-Times

About the Author

Randall Robinson is the founder and president of TransAfrica, the organization that spearheaded the movement to influence U.S. policies toward international black leadership. He is the author of Defending the Spirit: A Black Life in America, The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks and The Reckoning: What Blacks Owe To Each Other. Frequently featured in major print media, he has appeared on Charlie Rose, Today, Good Morning America, and the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, among others.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0452282101
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Plume; Reprint edition (January 1, 2001)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780452282100
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0452282100
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.3 x 0.6 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #675,164 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #454 in Slavery & Emancipation History
- #1,338 in Black & African American History (Books)
- #2,307 in African History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
209 ratings

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Randall Robinson

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RANDALL ROBINSON is the author of Makeda, An Unbroken Agony, and of the national best-sellers The Debt, The Reckoning, Quitting America, and Defending the Spirit. In 1984, he established the Free South Africa Movement, which pushed successfully for the imposition of US sanctions against apartheid South Africa. In 1994, his public advocacy, including a twenty-seven-day hunger strike, led to the UN multinational operation that restored Haiti’s first democratically elected government to power. Robinson is a professor of law at Penn State Law School and is the creator, coproducer, and host of the public television human rights series World on Trial. He lives with his wife Hazel in St. Kitts, West Indies.

Customer reviews

5 star		76%
4 star		15%
3 star		3%
2 star		3%
1 star		4%

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Gary Spearow

Only read you need to better understand black plight

Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2020

Verified Purchase

Dated material but still the best argument to help us privileged white people to understand the deep scars of slavery and need for reparations.

3 people found this helpful

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Vannessa

non-fiction

Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2022

Verified Purchase

The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks was well written; however, I disagreed with much that was written.

Helpful

L. Dobbins

A debt owed

Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2020

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Brilliant book.

One person found this helpful

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christopher l. jackson jr.

good

Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2019

Verified Purchase

good

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Stephen A. Boni

The Debt is Excellent!

Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2013

Verified Purchase

The Debt is an outstanding and profound book. Randall Robinson is an exceptional writer who brings scholarship and poetic prose together in a brilliant analysis of racism in the United States. His analysis is spot-on and totally convincing. And his arguments for reparations are irrefutable! What ghastly revelations Mr. Robinson reveals to the reader of this magnificent book. Highly recommended reading, especially for white people, of which I am one. This is not only a great book about racism - I would consider it one of the great books of contemporary American Literature. I look forward to reading Mr. Robinson's other books and learning more about the Trans-Africa organization.

8 people found this helpful

Helpful

Rasputin

American Slavery and the Founding Fathers

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2017

Verified Purchase

This is a well written book about American racism and how slavery was at the genesis of the American Nation State. Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, etc... were all racists who owned slaves and participated in the African American Holocaust. He also mentions the Native American Holocaust, however briefly. It could have more focus and direction. But, at its core, this book is a much need source to counter the American patriotic nationalistic propaganda in American textbooks and monuments.

He asks the ultimate question, how can blacks (and any minorities) look at the monuments of the so-called founding fathers with pride?

8 people found this helpful

Helpful

John H Armwood

An excellent book that should be required reading for every American ...

Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2014

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An excellent book that should be required reading for every American college history student. It tells the history of the African American experience focusing on the narrative perspective of African Americans. It starts with African History before slavery, a subject that has been well documented but seldom read or seriously studied by European Americans. It makes a clear and inarguable argument for some form of reparations for the state sanctioned public and private wealth stolen from African Americans.

10 people found this helpful

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Paul Lincolnhol

Heritage

Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2000

Verified Purchase

This is a provocative book. It has a position to advocate and is written in that style. Robinson does, I believe, hold the moral high ground. I have been to Dachau, and I am mystified why America has drawn such a curtain over its history of slavery. We are all a combination of good and evil (at least Christianity teaches that -- as well as history), and we won't grow unless we acknowledge our own evils and make amends for them. That goes for societies as well as for individuals. African Americans have a better American pedigree than many, if not most, European Americans. After all, the majority of the ancestors of European Americans came here in the 19th and 20th Centuries, while the ancestors of almost all African Americans came here before that time. While the later arriving European Americans might not have personally participated in slavery (and may have even fought against it), they do owe it to African Americans, as their older American sisters and brothers, to participate in making them whole, and in giving them the respect they deserve precisely as Americans.

35 people found this helpful

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