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Title: An Antidote to our Shared Denial
Review: I have benefitted materially and personally from slavery. My alma mater, Brown University, is built on an original endowment from the Brown family of Rhode Island-- money earned in the transatlantic slave trade. So Robinson's argument is no big stretch for me.That Robinson's small, personal book should garner the sort of bile and violence visible here in other reviews is telling. Many white people feel personally attacked by even the idea of slavery reparations. Why is this? It's in the interest of all Americans to openly admit to the crime of slavery and move on as one country.Robinson's book sometimes wanders, and is sometimes too personally focused. But his basic point-- that America needs to own up to its shameful, long-term dependency on slave labor-- is powerful and should be obvious. The fact that it isn't obvious to mainstream America (there isn't even a national slavery museum or monument) is a painful symptom of our shared denial.
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