Here's to You, Mr. Robinson Departing TransAfrica Leader Gets a Fond Farewell
By Roxanne Roberts Washington Post Staff Writer
The good thing about Randall Robinson is that he's uncompromising. The bad thing about Randall Robinson is that he's uncompromising.
Last night the founder of TransAfrica, one of Washington's most influential lobbying groups for Africa and the Caribbean, took his final bow as president of his beloved institution. Board member Johnnetta Cole summed him up this way: "It's as if the good Lord, she put Randall on this earth to be our conscience."
His farewell, in fact, was called "Voices of Conscience, Actions of Courage: A Tribute." On hand to lead the cheers were actor Danny Glover, who is taking the reins as TransAfrica's chairman, and Bill Fletcher, who is succeeding Robinson as president.
The gala reception was held at TransAfrica's $4 million headquarters on R Street NW, a marble testament to Robinson's drive and passion. The party for 500 was a goodbye to both Robinson and Ed Lewis, publisher of Essence magazine and TransAfrica's board chairman for the past eight years.
It was like a wake in the best sense of the term: lively, loving and full of all those glorious things people seldom say to the living. The 60-year-old Robinson, surrounded by his family and friends, seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself -- which made it even better.
"Few of us command the depth of respect we feel for Brother Randall," said Cole, who gave the keynote speech summing up his contributions.
Robinson started TransAfrica in 1977 to influence U.S. policy toward Africa and the Caribbean. His greatest campaign, fans and foes agree, was his call to end apartheid in South Africa. Robinson's courage and charisma were in evidence in the early 1980s when he led protests until the United States ended support of the existing apartheid system. In 1994, Robinson grabbed headlines again with a 27-day hunger strike to draw attention to what he believed was flawed American policy toward Haiti.
The traits that made Robinson brilliant at making news -- his eloquence, his elegance, his intelligence -- were informed by an unshakable belief in the moral rightness of his causes. There are few shades of gray in Robinson's world, and his inability to compromise was both heroic and exasperating to Washington insiders looking for him to give or take an inch.
What worked so well in the apartheid and Haitian campaigns played less well for other issues. Robinson raised a few eyebrows when he criticized Nigeria's government, blasted corporate interests in banana importing and opposed U.S. policy toward Cuba. He raised a few more eyebrows with sharp criticisms of African American leaders and President Clinton's "destructive" policies in African and Caribbean countries. (Robinson was not invited to last year's state dinner for South African President Thabo Mbeki.)
Unbowed, he ruffled more feathers when he signed on with Ralph Nader's presidential campaign last year, and more still with his best-selling book "The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks," a call for reparations to the descendants of slaves.
Robinson's outspokenness, by his own admission, cost TransAfrica millions in support and donations. "Every position we took cost us money," he said last night.
The future of TransAfrica has always been hard to predict because it was so intertwined with Robinson's dominant personality. Now a new duo will attempt to fill his shoes: Glover, the actor-activist-U.N. goodwill ambassador, and Fletcher, a longtime union activist with national and international experience.
Glover has been a member of the board for two years and donated $1 million to create an endowment. "I really feel that there's a place for TransAfrica as an advocacy voice for African Americans," he said.
Fletcher, who officially takes over as president next month, is looking to chart a course for the 21st century. "I believe we have to take the organization in some new directions," he said. "We have to situate TransAfrica smack in the middle of the global justice movement." That means more attention to human rights and economic issues, especially for black workers around the globe.
He quite happily admits he can't emulate Robinson, and won't try. He started his career as a shipyard welder and worked with the National Postal Mail Handlers Union and the United Auto Workers. For the past few years, he's been working with the trade union movement in South Africa. "I'm an organization person, but also very outspoken," the 47-year-old Fletcher said. "I'm ready to rock and roll."
Robinson has retired, in a way. He officially stepped down as president on Oct. 1, but remains on TransAfrica's board. A new grandfather, he has moved his family to the Caribbean island of St. Kitts, the birthplace of his wife, Hazel. He's preparing to tour for his fourth book, "The Reckoning: What Blacks Owe to Each Other."
Last week, he told the crowd, he received a call in St. Kitts. It was a TransAfrica intern, asking for a copy of his bio. Robinson, amused, told the young woman he assumed she could find one there at headquarters.
"We seem to have mislaid it," she answered.
That's when it hit him, he said with a laugh: TransAfrica would go on without him. That's the good news and the bad news, depending on how you look at it.