Mark Robinson stardom rises after fiery speech addressing race in America
N.C. Lieutenant Governor weighs in on the American work ethic on 'Unfiltered with Dan Bongino'
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson of North Carolina emphasized the importance of the American work ethic and his success story Saturday night on "Unfiltered with Dan Bongino."
Robinson is the first African American to hold the office of lieutenant governor in the state and caught the public's eye at a Greensboro City Council meeting, when he defended the Second Amendment.
Fox News host Dan Bongino asked Robinson what politically motivated him.
"Well, what honestly pushed me into it was something that someone said to me at work about 'talk.' They said talk's not going to do anything," Robinson said.
"I said, there's nothing you can do about it. You can go down there and talk, but that's not going to get anything done. And I reminded that person that, you know, the revolution in this country didn't start with the ‘shot heard round the world' - it started with ‘talk.’ Friends and neighbors talking to each other about ideas like independence and liberty and freedom and establishing our own nation. And so it starts with a conversation" said Robinson.
Robinson spoke at the North Carolina Republican Party State Convention last Friday where he discussed topics such as abortion, race, and the American work ethic.
Bongino noted that the Republican party doesn't have a "message problem," but rather a "messaging problem."
"Lower taxes, health care, freedom, school choice. These are all popular things when people hear about them," Bongino said.
The Fox News host continued to note that Robinson's speech to the North Carolina Republican Party State Convention addressed the dignity of work, and that "nothing in Republican messaging … addresses that."
"One of the things in this nation, apart from any other nation, is the American work ethic," Robinson said.
Robinson noted that for decades, people have denigrated the American work ethic, saying "we see a strong vein of that happening right now from our federal government where we are actually paying people not to go to work, which is ridiculous."
"The American work ethic is one of the most important things that this nation has. People come here and want to come here from all over the world. And why? Because Americans have worked so hard to build this constitutional republic to be the garden spot of the world. We could not allow laziness," he continued.
"We could not allow a degradation of our work ethic to start to cause us to slide backward on the world stage. It is up to us as citizens to keep that work ethic strong. And that's why I said, you know, we have to get up every day and go to work. Whatever it is that we do, get up, get out into the workforce, add some value into this place we call home."
Robinson also shared his story, noting that he was "proud" of where he came from the and victory of his family.
"As a Black man in America, there is one thing that I'm proud of, and it is my story," Robinson said.
"And my story is this," he continued. "I come from folks who came over here in the belly of ships through the middle passage who had to endure the horrors of mechanized slavery on cotton plantations, who had to deal with the indignity of all of Jim Crow."
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"But here's what the glorious part of that story is. We survived and we thrived. Our story is not a story of victimization, it's a story of victory. And we have attained that victory together as Americans."
At the North Carolina Republican Party State Convention last week, Robinson concluded his speech declaring, "It's time for us to stand strong and proud and remember who we are. We are Christians, we are Americans, we are Republicans, and we are conservatives. And as we stand as the vanguard of freedom in this nation, freedom will survive here … and not only survive, it will thrive."
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