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Here's his section of the transcript. I like what he had to say:
We're going to be talking to writer/activist Randall Robinson who says he abandoned the country because it abandoned him and find out how the love of family helped Meredith Vieira and her husband face a life or death personal crisis.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: You remember the 1960s bumper sticker, "America, love it or leave it?" Well, our next guest decided to leave it. Activist Randall Robinson gave up on the U.S. and moved with his family to St. Kitt's in 2001. And he explains why in his latest book, "Quitting America." Nice to see you.
I know you have strong feelings about whites and the kind of environment they've created for African Americans in this country but do you not acknowledge there have been some significant gains for African Americans? I have this one statistic I think is pretty amazing that 70 percent of African Americans now earn at least a bachelor's degree, up from 6 percent from 40 years ago. 30% of African American families now have incomes of $75,000 or more. A fraction of that 30 years ago. Haven't they made headway?
RANDALL ROBINSON, AUTHOR, "QUITTING AMERICA": Sure, there's headway. I'm an example of that headway. But at the end of slavery and the era of discrimination, a block of African Americans were left behind, bottom stock. We now have in the United States 1/20 of the world's population, but 1/4 of the world's prisoners, 2 million and climbing, half of whom are African Americans.
African Americans constitute 14 percent of American drug use, but 75 percent of prison admissions for drug use. So that African Americans are seven times more likely to go to prison for crimes than are there white counterparts, and when they are convicted, they will serve sentences twice as long. We are warehousing the future of young black African American males. Now, all of these things are consequences of 346 years of slavery and discrimination. America has a commitment to stop the active stage of a crime, but not to treat the consequences of the old devastating human rights crime.
ZAHN: What do you say to critics of your viewpoint, including some African Americans themselves, who say all you're doing is promoting the victimization of blacks?
ROBINSON: Promoting victimization? We're talking about people whose families were destroyed, people who have had no opportunity, people who were born out of wedlock, people who haven't had a chance since the Emancipation Proclamation. We start with what is given to us. I have been successful because I had an intact family and an opportunity to be successful. People inherit poverty as they do wealth, and most of us finish somewhere near where we start. Obviously, if you start higher up, you're better off, your chances are infinitely better that you will succeed.
ZAHN: But in "Quitting America," are you giving up on African- Americans? ROBINSON: No, I'm not giving up on African-Americans. But I have lost hope in America. I think America represents a danger to the world. It operates without checks and balances abroad. It operates without introspection at home. Americans are perhaps the most self- absorbed people in the entire world, inflated by arrogance. They never ask why, only what. Never why when something is wrong. How do we improve ourselves as a society? What ills do we have that could cripple us in a real measurable and permanent way?
ZAHN: Well, some of what you talk about, obviously, is a lightning rod, quite inflammatory to some people, but we appreciate your sharing your perspective with us this evening. Randall Robinson, author of "Quitting America."
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