Mark Robinson: Black Americans Were ‘At Their Highest’ Under Jim Crow
Mark Robinson: Black Americans Were ‘At Their Highest’ Under Jim Crow
The previously unreported 2020 comments from the North Carolina Republican are just the latest to complicate his gubernatorial run.
NORTH CAROLINA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE and current lieutenant governor Mark Robinson, already under fire for a series of racist remarks, once waxed nostalgically about the Jim Crow era of intense segregation.
“During Jim Crow, you can go back and you can look at it and the record will show you, that’s when black folks were at their highest in this country,” Robinson said in a speech in 2020. “When the times were the toughest, that’s when they were highest. And why? Because they knew they had to rely on themselves.”
The comments from Robinson were delivered in a September 2020 speech to BLEXIT, a political group founded by conservative provocateur Candace Owens and run in partnership with the conservative youth political group Turning Point USA. They are among the more notable examples of Robinson, who is black, either celebrating the historical degradation of black Americans or maligning contemporary black Americans.
Robinson has repeatedly found himself under fire in his run for governor as past remarks and internet posts have come to light in which, among other things, he disputed the historical facts of the Holocaust.
On Thursday, CNN delivered the latest bombshell when it reported that between 2008 and 2012, Robinson had referred to himself as a “black NAZI!” and expressed support for reinstating slavery in comments on a pornographic messageboard. Robinson has denied that he is responsible for those posts—even suggesting that they are AI-generated—despite the overwhelming evidence of their authenticity: CNN noted that the username responsible for the postings is directly tied to Robinson in several other forums.
The comments made at BLEXIT, which is aligned with the MAGA movement and is working to encourage black Americans to leave the Democratic party and register as Republicans, involve actual video footage of Robinson.
In the same 2020 speech, obtained by The Bulwark, Robinson celebrated black slaves who kept their “rags” clean and patiently took whippings from their overseers. “I can even imagine some of them with their slave chains on, the rags they had on. They made sure those rags were as clean as could be. And they stood up and stiffened up their backs,” Robinson said. “They saw what was coming down in the pike. And they only knew that it would come if they took those stripes and took those beats.”
The BLEXIT speech was not the only remark unearthed by The Bulwark. In a 2018 Facebook Live video, Robinson expressed anger at a black DJ, and black people in general, for criticizing former Fox News host Megyn Kelly for defending blackface and not rap music.
“It just hit me, it just hit me how disgusted I am with people of my so-called community and how they behave,” Robinson said. “If the people in our community, so to speak, people in the black community, black people don’t speak up about the ills that they see around them with their own, nobody will and nothing will get done about it.”
“Forget the origins of blackface,” he added. “As far as I’m concerned, BET, the rap music industry, black radio, all of that is blackface for black folks. It’s a clown show, folks. It’s a clown show that makes a mockery out of us.”
In a separate 2018 Facebook Live video, Robinson called Don Lemon and Al Sharpton “Sambo” and “Quimbo” for spreading “racial dissension.” Sambo and Quimbo were two black characters in the anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin who betrayed their fellow slaves out of loyalty to their white masters. “Sambo” is widely considered a derogatory term towards black people.
“For those of you all who read the book Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Don Lemon and Al Sharpton could be Sambo and Quimbo,” Robinson said. “If you read the book you know exactly what I’m talking about.”
BEYOND CELEBRATING JIM CROW’S EFFECT on black people, and using anti-black slurs towards prominent black individuals, Robinson also previously criticized the police-reform movement that many black Americans embrace. In another 2018 Facebook Live video uncovered by The Bulwark, Robinson said the onus was on black people to behave better around police.
“The whole ‘I’m afraid of the police’ thing, that’s people’s way of, number one, trying to give an excuse while they’re acting the fool during the traffic stop,” Robinson said. “And they want to act the fool during the traffic stop hoping that a policeman will get angry at them and hit them in the head with a nightstick and then they can go to court and have them a good lawsuit.”
Robinson went on to lambaste black people who support police reform. “You’re a coward, you’re a liar, and you’re spitting in the face of your ancestors,” he said. “Because your ancestors never would have been so foolish.”
The Robinson campaign did not respond to a request for comment. But his remarks illustrate the inherent tensions that exist within the modern Republican party. Robinson, a political neophyte, was propelled to GOP fame after speaking extemporaneously in defense of gun rights at a meeting of the Greensboro City Council after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He then gained a reputation for being a black man who would harshly criticize racial justice movements and black Democrats. But the rhetorical extremism that caught the eye of the MAGA crowd now represents an existential threat to his political future.
Robinson has been trailing his Democratic opponent, Josh Stein, for most of the campaign, struggling under the weight of nonstop controversies related to his inflammatory and combative rhetoric. He has targeted Jews (he downplayed the Holocaust and defended Hitler), Muslims (he said he was “sad” that religious freedom applies to Muslims), women (he has repeatedly downplayed sexual violence allegations, such as those made against disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein), and LGBT people (he claimed the ‘homosexual agenda’ promoted child rape).
But his bizarre views on black Americans pose a threat not only to his already sinking gubernatorial campaign, but to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. As Marc Cuputo and Sam Stein noted yesterday, North Carolina is a must-win state for Trump. Traditionally, it’s the candidate for governor who wants to avoid being dragged down by an unpopular national candidate, but Robinson has flipped that dynamic and forced the Trump campaign to devote more resources to the Tarheel State.
The ex-president is set to go to North Carolina this weekend and will reportedly not appear with Robinson. On Friday, NBC News reported that Trump had no plans to pull his endorsement.
Watch Mark Robinson’s full video on Don Lemon and Al Sharpton.
Watch Mark Robinson’s full video on relations between black Americans and the police.
Watch Mark Robinson’s full video on BET, the rap music industry, and “blackface for black people.”
Watch Mark Robinson’s full remarks at the 2020 BLEXIT event.
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