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Summary: Amazing Book!
Review: This is a fabulous book! Randall Robinson has written some searing truths that white America will have a hard time accepting, but Robinson courageously lays all the cards on the table nonetheless. I thank him from the bottom of my heart for putting so eloquently on paper ideas that most black people know in their "viscera" to be true. It's time for white America to face the music.I recommend this reading to every African American I know, and I'm ready to join Mr. Randall's crusade.
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Summary: Surprise!
Review: When I heard that Robinson had appeared at a local book store to discuss a book about Reparations, I was immediately curious. So I ordered the book from Amazon. What a pleasant surprise! The book is not just about reparations; indeed, it is a subtle but panaromic treatment of the black experience in America and the western hemisphere, including a delightful yet poignant analysis of race and politics in and about Cuba--a topic topical if anything is. I found the book to be one of the most trenchant treatments of race in America that I have read in recent years. The argument for reparations, discussed in the context of America's overall history of race relations, stands on its own, and is not belittled for having been dwarfed by Robinson's analysis of the social, psychological and political importance of recognizing the validity of his argument. Very, very well done.
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Summary: Don't let the title fool you!
Review: Randall Robinson probes deeper than the obvious monetary compensation which 'debt' implies. He defines the psychic and social scars of slavery that no amount of money can right.Race relations in America today are at a perilous crossroads. As an influential world power, and as human beings, it's long past time for us to step up to the plate and do the right thing. In "The Debt", Robinson has given us a road map to begin the dialogue out of which reparations, social and fiscal programs and political power can be realized by black Americans. Looming before all of us is the gargantuan task of fulfilling his vision. I'd like to believe that as a nation, we can rise to the challenge. However, I fear we have yet to reach such a level of civic maturity and responsibility. Before the issue of reparations can be broached successfully, many comfortable, privileged, complacent white folk will need to be shaken to the core and convinced to finally share this nation equally. Through this book, Robinson has given me renewed hope and fear. Hope, that though the task is enormous, we can no longer deny the truth, the responsibility and the onus of reversing a 250+-year trend. Fear, that before progress is realized, the streets may fill with blood. Robinson peppers his text with fascinating historical facts and thought-provoking quotes. The book was carefully planned, well researched, beautifully written, and articulates a concept that has never really been well defined to the public-at-large. It's long past time to begin healing the psychic scarring and social inequities that are slavery's insidious legacy and to share this country's prosperity with the descendants of those on whose backs it was forcibly built. Sadly, I know that as a white American believing as I do, that I am in the minority. It sickens me that in the year 2,000, South Carolina is fighting for the right to mockingly display on its government buildings, the most recognizable symbol of black oppression in American history. I was forced to stop reading on several occasions to wipe away the tears one can't help but shed when contemplating this horrific disregard of human rights we have perpetrated (and continue to perpetrate) on black Americans, and the irreparable damage to dignity, heritage and self respect which is their "American legacy." If our country is ever to realize its true potential, we must first fulfill the promise of liberty and justice for ALL. Until we work up the social conscience to apologize and atone for one of the darkest chapters in human history, we are but a sad imitation of the greatest nation in the world. I want to live in an America that does what it should to pay a debt that can never be truly repaid. My thanks to Randall Robinson for giving us a tool with which to start.
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Summary: We need more Randall Robinsons
Review: This book blows apart the idea of white superiority that whites and a lot of blacks. Robinson tells the truth about whites and how they have obtained a good amount of their power,i.e., through slavery. This book does not make excuses for blacks and demonize whites, although most will CHOOSE to believe this. Instead, Robinson emphasizes how white racism has left blacks with deep self-hatred and hopelessness. Because of this psychological damage, we have "allowed" racism to continue, not actively fighting for our rights. He encourages blacks to learn about pre-slavery Africa and garner self-love and self-respect. And then, we will have the strength and knowledge to fight for equality. People, like the reviewer from Boston, do NOT know the WHOLE history of Europeans, and will thus say that blacks should be grateful for slavery, as many whites think. Afterall, can any of us imagine White Americans telling Jews to be grateful for the Holocaust because they ended up moving to great countries like the U.S.? The Black and Native American Holocausts can be ignored and demeaned by whites only as long as we allow them to.
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Summary: A Must Read
Review: With eloquence and power, Randall Robinson lays out the case for reparations to black Americans. Along with Klinkner and Smith's, The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline of Racial Equality, this book shows how much blacks have given to America, and yet how little they have received in return. After reading this book, I am convinced that the argument should not be whether to give reparations, but how much.
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Summary: The Debt and how it can be paid.
Review: Randall Robinson's book "The Debt: What America owes to Blacks" is an excellent, clearly written, succinct must-read text for all Americans. Indeed everyone everywhere would benefit from Robinson's eloquent assessment of the current state of affairs in Africa and the African diaspora, including issues from the most recent headlines. It is a worthy successor to "Before the Mayflower" and "They Came Before Columbus". It has been said, "The truth shall set you free". Here is truth to set free all of America, Africa and Europe, with practical ideas for remediating the current tragedies occuring in the African diaspora, particularly the inner cities of America, the Caribbean, and Africa itself. Read it, and send copies to your friends and family>
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Summary: The West Owes the Children of Africa an Enormous Debt
Review: This is a must read for Blacks everywhere. For non-Blacks that read it and afterward still believe that there is no historical/current wrong that is still un-resolved, then there is a deep lack of spirituality within that people forcibly abducted from their land; subjected to 250 years of govt. sanctioned forced labor to build the wealth of a nation; subjected to a further 100 years of govt. sanctioned extreme legal racism; stripped of their names, religion, culture & history; once freed (1867) and granted legal citizenship (1965) these people find themselves in a world hostile to their very presence; control nothing in their own development as a culture; are generally confined to the poorest and most contaminated sites in urban areas; have horrible schools; drugs & guns are imported en masse from places unknown; and finally, for most the main concern is survival versus case of ungodly inhumanity? 2. Should the perpetrator(s) take responsibility for repairing this situation? Any person that answers no to either of these questions just goes to show how lacking in spirituality this western world is. There have been many holocausts in the history of man, but this one, the Maafa, is the only one which history, and the minds of most non-Blacks, give little consideration. There can be no doubt that this one has affected more people and had longer lasting implications than any other in recorded history. Something has to happen though, because this issue will never fade away until it is resolved. As history shows, when two groups have a conflict, it either gets solved through peaceful negotiations or through violence. I hope this situation gets resolved peacefully. A debt most definitely exists and repayment is not subject to asking or begging. It must be demanded and it must be paid.
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Summary: Forget it
Review: The author fails to appreciate that the 246 years of slavery for blacks ended by the debt being paid by mostly white soldiers, and paid in blood.
Rating: 
Summary: Heritage
Review: 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.
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Summary: The Debt - What America Owes to Blacks
Review: Randall Robinson is a brave, brave man. A fine and fearless historian. A passionate historian. Reading him isn't about agreeing or not. Reading him is about experiencing his perceptions and feelings and waking up to more consciousness and more responsibility. I fear that this book will be treasured among a too small circle of readers. I find that people are embarrassed by this idea. People who hear of the idea of the debt usually say, Well I don't know if I agree with him. It is okay to disagree ... because the book is about so much more than reparation. This is excellent writing ... a powerful beautiful stunning work ... literature and history and poetry and music and social provocation. Robinson might be talking about investing some reparation money in educational opportunity for black people, and this might be controversial, but for me, reading this book is feeling strongly that it is not white people Robinson wants to waken but black people ... white people may be indifferent, oblivious, and evasive ... but black people haven't had a paradigm safe enough to realize their own predicament. This is Robinson's concern ... And his work is wondrous to read. The Debt should be required reading wherever reading is required. I fear it will be overlooked after the fashion of Amistad and Beloved ... and this would be a shame ... for there's a stirring excellence in this work and it is a privilege to experience it. I recommend this book to anyone who can read ... and if you know someone who cannot read, this book can be read out loud.
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