We Have Lost a ‘Tall’ Icon
The Rodney Family and the Walter Rodney Foundation (WRF) extend condolences to Randall Robinson’s wife, Hazel Ross-Robinson, daughter Khalea Ross Robinson, and the entire Robinson family on the passing of Randall Robinson on March 24, 2023 at the age of 81, in the Caribbean island of St. Kitts-Nevis, where he lived since 2001.
Randall Robinson, human rights activist, lawyer, and author, founded the lobbying and research organization TransAfrica Forum in 1977 to influence U.S. foreign policy towards Africa and the Caribbean. He spearheaded the U.S. anti-apartheid movement against South Africa. He worked tirelessly to secure the freedom and safe passage of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the democratically elected president of Haiti, and his first lady, Mildred Trouillot-Aristide. Robinson galvanized the modern US reparations movement and fought against incarceration and the prison industrial complex.
Randall Robinson’s name, oratory skills, and works are known globally. His best known books include Defending the Spirit, A Black Life in America; The Debt: What America Owes Blacks; What Blacks Owe to Each Other; Quitting America, The Departure of a Black Man from His Native Land; An Unbroken Agony: Haiti, from Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President; and Makeda, A Novel.
Walter Rodney and Randall Robinson met at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in 1970. They were kindred spirits who fought tirelessly for the liberation and justice for all people of African descent. Randall remained a close friend and colleague. He graciously wrote an Afterword for The Groundings with My Brothers published in 2019, entitled “Our Responsibilities to Each Other.”
The family and the WRF had the honor of receiving a statement from Randall for the occasion of Walter Rodney’s 80th birthday. Randall wrote: “Walter Rodney, by his example, demonstrated the importance of empathy. Awareness. Respect for self. Respect for others. Constructive action. Our world was made dramatically better as a result. And for that, we are grateful. For that, we will be forever in his debt.” These words resound and are directly apropo for you dear Randall. “In our hearts, and across the world, YOU live.” We will miss you dearly.
Charles Ezra Ferrell, a WRF Board Member and Co-Director, Operations, James and Grace Lee Boggs Center wrote “Tall - A Love Poem for Randall Robinson” that also reflects the views of the Rodney Family and the WRF Board. A link to the tribute can be found on the WRF website.