AUTHOR URGES SUCCESSFUL BLACKS TO AID LESS FORTUNATE

DURHAM -- Despite the civil rights movement, the majority of black
Americans have not prospered, according to prominent political writer
Randall Robinson, who urges successful members of the black community
to recognize their obligation toward those trapped in poverty and
violence. Robinson spoke to more than 60 people at Barnes & Noble
bookstore Wednesday night about his recent book, "The Reckoning."
Generations of black men and women are growing up without
opportunities for positive advancement, ignored equally by the
government and wealthier black Americans, he said.

"[Classism] is something the black community doesn't like to talk
about," he said. "Our community is driven by class as much as any
other community."

Black leaders are quick to decry discrimination against black people
stopped by law enforcement while driving, but say little about a
prison system that incarcerates thousands of black men each year
because it doesn't affect them, Robinson said.

Robinson's book explores the lives of three real people, Peewee
Kirkland, New Child Lynch and Mark Lawrence in their struggle to
overcome blighted neighborhoods, inferior schools and the American
criminal justice system, which one in three black males will enter at
some time. Kirkland was a white-collar criminal and Lynch sold drugs.

"They were capitalists just like the Enron capitalists," Robinson
said, generating laughter from the audience. "The Enron people will
pocket tens of millions of dollars and likely walk away with it.
Peewee went to federal prison with nothing in his pocket. . The
system is not blind; it distinguishes quite clearly between black and
white and brown."

Robinson said although black people make up 14 percent of drug users,
they represent 35 percent of all drug arrests, 55 percent of
convictions and 75 percent of prison admissions.

Prisons not only help revive poor rural communities, the rise in
private detention facilities have made investors rich. The criminal
justice system today is nothing but a kind of modern-day slavery, he
said.

More money should go toward strengthening public education rather
than expanding the number of prisons, Robinson said, with the federal
government taking a lead role in eliminating poverty.

On that note, Robinson criticized black people who praised former
President Clinton as he worked to push millions off welfare with
little assistance, devastated the economies of the Caribbean and
"added more prisoners to the federal prison rolls than the Reagan and
Bush administrations combined."

He also took to task the religious community for not promoting strong
spiritual values against the modern way of life in America that
embraces materialism and greed.

If society thinks it can continue to ignore the Peewee Kirklands and
Child Lynches of the world, it is horribly mistaken, Robinson said.

When Robinson asked Kirkland how someone could kill another human
being without remorse, the young man replied it didn't make a
difference whether the gun was pointed at himself or someone else.

"Life without meaning or opportunity or a future, no society can
survive long without that," Robinson said.

Sanford resident Hazel Foye said she heard Robinson speak about two
years ago at a genealogical conference in Washington, D.C., and found
him just as impressive Wednesday.

"I think he's very knowledgeable. He makes you think about things you
hadn't thought about before," she said, while seeking to buy a copy
of Robinson's latest book so he could sign it. "In Washington, he
emphasized the importance of black people knowing their roots. It
helps you to get to know yourself and where you're going."

A native of Richmond, Va., and a Harvard University graduate,
Robinson is founder and president of TransAfrica, an organization
that influenced changes in U.S. policy toward the Caribbean, South
Africa and Haiti. He has also joined with prominent black lawyers
Johnnie Cochran and Willie Gary as well as intellectuals such as
Cornel West and Manning Marable in introducing lawsuits next month
that will seek financial payment to black Americans whose ancestors
were slaves.