The conference was so successful that he suggested that several presenters be included in a book he was proposing, which would entail several articles addressing the broad spectrum of the reparations debate in this country.

Dr. Winbush has emerged as one of the leading scholar/activists in this country and throughout the world. What makes this book perhaps one of the most significant and comprehensive books published on the issue of reparations for African people in America is that it thoroughly covers the broad spectrum of this movement in six sections, with more than 20 articles that address: History and Reparations, Reparations and the Law, Voices For and Against Reparations, Reparations and Grassroots Organizing, Reparations and Intervention, and Historical Documents.

The worldwide African Reparations Movement has become unified around the fact that the trans-Atlantic slave trade, slavery and colonialism were crimes against humanity. This unity impacted the United Nations World Conference Against Racism that was held in Durban, South Africa in August and September 2001, to officially declare in the conference outcome that the trans-Atlantic slave trade and slavery was a crime against humanity.

The momentum gained by African people who participated in the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, particularly the Durban 400, organized by the December 12th Movement and the National Black United Front, led to "The Call" for the Millions For Reparations Mass Rally held in Washington, D. C. on August 17, 2002. More than 50,000 African people from 38 states and 66 cities participated in this all-day rally, whose theme was "They Owe Us."

Against this backdrop, "Should America Pay?" has now been published by Amistad: An Imprint of Harper Collins Publishers.

In the introduction chapter, Dr. Winbush writes, "As this book goes to press, the reparations movement, historically considered a fringe issue in the American Black nationalist community, is now firmly established among various constituencies in the United States as well as in African communities around the world. Its ascendancy as an important social movement—I would argue the most important since Civil Rights—is confirmed by the amount of print space and air time the media devotes to it."

Dr. Winbush continues by observing, "Though the movement is picking up speed, compensatory measures for Africans have been elusive because of the entrenchment of white supremacy in world politics that provided legal sanction for this crime against humanity."

Perhaps the most significant aspect of "Should America Pay?" is the framework Dr. Winbush develops in his introductory chapter for understanding the rise of the Reparations Movement.

Dr. Winbush explains, "A convergence of four groups provides a conceptual framework for understanding the current discussion of reparations: 1) grassroots organizers, 2) legislators, 3) attorneys, and 4) academics. A similar convergence of cooperation occurred during the late 1940s and resulted in what we now call the Civil Rights Movement."

In this context, Dr. Winbush makes the analogy that, "Reparations have a similar history. Grassroots organizations such as the December 12th Movement (D12), National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N`COBRA), and the National Black United Front (NBUF) worked closely with legislators in the mid-1980s. John Conyers Jr. (D-MI) for example, and collaborated with the Reparations Coordinating Committee (RCC), consisting of attorneys such as Willie Gary, Randall Robinson, and Johnnie Cochran and academics such as Manning Marble and Ron Walters."

Dr. Winbush writes, "These groups conversed long and hard with each other, and as you will see, these discussions were often heated and difficult. What united them, however, was a goal of pressing for reparations on a global level for African people."

I encourage everyone who is interested in learning more about the Reparations Movement to purchase this book. In my judgment, "Should America Pay?" will be the definitive textbook on the Reparations Movement with contributing chapters from Molefi Asante, John Conyers Jr., Deadria C. Farmer-Paellmann, Wade Nobles, Adjoa A. Aiyetoro, Roger Wareham, and others. And, yes, I even have two chapters in this most outstanding contribution to the continued rise of the Reparations Movement in America.