Aug 14

Aug 14 Lt. Governor rallies Republicans in Davidson County

Lt. Governor Mark Robinson and wife Yolanda Robinson pose for a picture before Robinson speaks to a crowd. {Antionette Kerr/Davidson Local}

The threat of thunderstorms in the area didn’t deter the sold-out crowd of more than 220 as they gathered for the First Annual All-American Cookout featuring North Carolina Lt. Governor Mark Robinson.

The event, held in a large tent outside of the historic Thomas A. Finch House in Thomasville, included a who’s who of the Davidson County Republican Party comprised of voters, lay leaders, party leadership, county commissioners and school board members.

The following awards were presented:

Resolution of Support from Davidson County Republican Party Executive Committee to Lt. Governor Mark Robinson - supporting his opposition to progressive curriculum standards

Resolution of Appreciation from DC Republican Party Executive Committee to Second Lady Yolanda Hill- appreciation of her support for her husband and being a positive role model for young ladies

Certificate of Appreciation to Jimmy Davis- his help organizing the event

Flowers presented to: Ineta Cherry, Vanessa Link, Martie Beasley, Christy Jones, Tammy Honeycutt for their help in organizing the event.

State elected officials in attendance included Larry W. Potts a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives District 81 North Carolina Court of Appeals, Judge April C. Wood (candidate for the NC Supreme Court 2020), Sam Watford of the North Carolina House of Representatives, representing District 80, and Senator Steve Jarvis-Representative District 29 that includes Davie and Montgomery counties.

Lt. Governor Robinson entered to a standing ovation of many who viewed Robinson’s speeches at meetings and rallies online. Robinson, a Greensboro native who grew up in the foster care system, served in the Army Reserves as a medical specialist, has worked in manufacturing and owned a small business with his wife, Yolanda.

According to his bio, life changed for Mark when he “stood up against the Greensboro City Council” in a short speech supporting gun rights that went viral on Facebook.

See “I am the majority.”

Since then, Robinson has been a political freight train appearing on local, state and national media outlets. His first political appointment was as the 35th LT. governor of North Carolina.

Robinson, who had been given center stage, began by shifting the platform back between the American flag and the North Carolina state flag so that his back wasn’t turned to anyone in the crowd.

He promised a short speech and commenced with vigor. “Guys, what is going on in our nation right now from the highest level, all the way down to the state level, all the way down to the local level, county level, school boards, it is absolutely ridiculous,” Robinson declared. “What we’ve seen right now we’ve never seen in this country before. We have seen democrats do a lot of stuff…I’m sorry, yes, we have seen these types of things before…. We’ve seen lockdowns before. The lockdowns democrats used to do was something called slavery … when they thought a whole race of people were good for nothing but doing their work for no pay. And it took republicans to get them to stand up and say ‘no.’”

Robinson criticized the teaching of Critical Race Theory. “Years ago, the same thing was called Jim Crow when they wanted everybody to be separate but equal.” Proponents of the theory say it is important to examine institutions (e.g., the criminal justice system, education system, labor market, housing market, healthcare system) for laws, regulations, rules and procedures that lead to different outcomes by race. Robinson refuted, “They are always about dividing, dividing, dividing.”

The lt. governor was opposed to mask mandates and vaccine cards citing they are attacks on freedom. “I’ve figured out my strategy, and here it is; if they ask me to show my vaccine card, I am going to say, ‘I don’t have a vaccine card.’ If they ask me why I don’t have one, I am going to say, ‘You need an ID to get one of those things,’” referring to voter ID laws. “Besides, if you’d like for me to take the vaccine, mail it to me. I’ll send it back to you, trust me. If you trust me to vote with it, then it’s good enough for the vaccine.”

A running theme was to rally republicans to “show up and show out” for the 2022 elections with the hopes of winning republicans a super majority that will overcome Democratic Governor Roy Cooper’s veto.

He also pointed to the party’s division after the last presidential election. Robinson noted a need to begin looking to the future. With a reference to football teams with bad referee calls he said, “We need people to find out what went wrong and where it went wrong, like any good team, if something bad happens, we don’t need to put all the focus on the bad…”

Robinson called for stronger laws for election tampering “no matter who they may be.”

He ended the speech with a nod toward the 2024 governor’s race with chants of “Mark, Mark, Mark” erupting from his supporters.

The evening ended with Chairman Christopher Jessup presenting the avid train collector, with a picture of the Thomasville train station. At one point during his speech, Robinson paused to watch a freight train roll past. The committee expressed appreciation and presented flowers to Yolanda Robinson.