Robinson, Horowitz to discuss slavery reparations

The pros and cons of paying reparations for slavery in the United States will be the focus of the two guest speakers scheduled in coming weeks at the university.

Author-activists Randall Robinson and David Horowitz take different views on the need for reparations to repair economic inequities faced by African Americans 150 years after slavery was outlawed in the United States.

As part of the Distinguished Lecture Series held in the Wisconsin Union Theater, Memorial Union, 800 Langdon St., Robinson is scheduled Tuesday, Dec. 4, 7:30 p.m., and Horowitz is scheduled Tuesday, Dec. 11, 7:30 p.m.

Robinson is an internationally renowned author and advocate for human rights and democracy. As executive director of TransAfrica since 1977, Robinson and has testified before both houses of Congress, staged massive anti-apartheid protests and worked with pro-justice legislators and other U.S. officials. He is best known for his pro-reparations book “The Debt: What American Owes to Blacks,” which includes his Restatement of the Black Manifesto.

Millions first heard of Horowitz, editor-in-chief of FrontPageMagazine.com and a Fox News analyst, early last year when he infuriated many with his campaign to place anti-slavery reparations ads in campus newspapers across the country. Horowitz has been fighting America’s culture wars for decades, first as a communist revolutionary and now as a conservative author, pundit and activist.

Free tickets to the events will be available at the Union Theater Box Office, open 11:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. weekdays. UW–Madison students and Wisconsin Union members can pick up tickets for Randall Robinson beginning Wednesday, Nov. 28 and for David Horowitz Wednesday, Dec. 5. Remaining tickets will be available to the public Friday, Nov. 30, for the Robinson lecture and Friday, Dec. 8, for the Horowitz lecture.

Other speakers scheduled for the series include filmmaker Spike Lee, Feb. 26; arts activists The Guerrilla Girls, March 12; and Elie Wiesel, author and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, April 16.

For more information, contact Tim Lindl, (608) 262-2216, tjlindl@students.wisc.edu.