CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Randall Robinson, an internationally known advocate for human rights, executive director of TransAfrica and TransAfrica Forum, and author of last year’s “The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks,” will be speaking at the University of Illinois this Thursday (Jan. 18).
Robinson’s presentation, “A Case for Reparations,” will begin at 4 p.m. in Rooms B and C of the Illini Union, 1401 W. Green St., Urbana. His address is one keynote in a week-long symposium commemorating Martin Luther King Jr.
Chicago Alderwoman Dorothy Tillman also will be featured as part of the symposium, providing the closing address on Saturday (Jan. 20) at 4 p.m. at the Douglass Community Center, 512 E. Grove, Champaign.
TransAfrica is dedicated to influencing U.S. policy toward Africa and the Caribbean, and as its executive director and president Robinson has testified frequently before Congress. He also staged numerous protests at the South African Embassy during the apartheid era, and in 1994 went on a hunger strike to protest U.S. policy toward Haiti and its treatment of Haitian refugees.
Robinson also is the author of “Defending the Spirit: A Black Life in America.” He holds degrees from Virginia Union University and Harvard Law School.
