Defending the Spirit: A Black Life in America
This elegant memoir by Randall Robinson, political activist and founder/president of TransAfrica--an organization that lobbies for African and Caribbean interests that was instrumental in defeating Apartheid in South Africa--details the triumphant life of a warrior dedicated to fighting racism and shows us by his brilliant example how to carry on the fight. You can almost hear Robinson's booming, southern baritone in his forceful prose when he writes about segregation in his native Richmond, Virginia, his experiences at African American Virginia Union University and Harvard Law School, and his near-death from a 27-day fast to protest the government's anti-Haitian immigration policies. Robinson conveys a profound sense following the 1989 AIDS-related death of his brother, ABC News anchor Max Robinson: "In that final year we drew closer as a family, saying to each other the important things, leaving aside the extraneous." On the subject of race, Robinson leaves us with this warning: "Our nation's white leaders have elected, consciously or unconsciously, to ignore the deepening national racial crisis.... Better we face the painful problem now than the conflagration looming ahead."--Eugene Holley, Jr.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.