Dear Mark Robinson: You tried to be Trump but forgot that you’re Black | Opinion

Dear Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson,

Can I speak to you, Black man to Black man?

Failing to learn the lesson our parents taught us long ago came back to bite you in the butt.

We must be twice as good to get half as far.

Though this America is better than the America we were born into five decades ago, that truism remains.

Things have changed — but not by that much.

To your supporters, you were more mascot than man. After letting you kiss their babies, they dropped you like a bad habit.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad they did. You should not be North Carolina governor. You are neither qualified in temperament nor vision. Still, it’s important to explain what happened before you fade out of the headlines and become political wallpaper.

You tried to be Donald Trump but forgot that you’re Black, and he’s not. You were born poor, worked in a factory. He’s been rich since the journey through his mother’s womb and was known for stiffing blue-collar workers. Dude, how did you not know Black men don’t get the chances a white man like Trump routinely receives? That’s at the heart of your loss in a state Trump won.

You were a Trump acolyte unlike any other. And what did it profit you?

There will be people telling you, and analysts confidently declaring, you lost because the state is “purple.” They’ll say extremist white Republican Michele Morrow, who was vying to head up the state’s public schools, also lost. They’ll pat you on the back, or maybe the head, and remind you voters also rid the state of the dastardly GOP supermajority that was the result of state Rep. Tricia Cotham of Mecklenburg County misleading her constituents. Don’t listen to them or you’ll once again be led astray.

Morrow was beaten by Mo Green, a Black candidate who was twice as qualified. She had no experience and home-schooled her kids. He led the state’s third largest school district and put two kids through the North Carolina public school system he will head. Despite that mismatch in qualifications, he only won by a few points.

Twice as hard to get half as far.

You foolishly believed you could pattern yourself after Trump and win. You were wrong. Spectacularly wrong.

Trump won the state, which helped him win the presidency. The people you believed supported you and the once and future president abandoned you while rallying around Trump.

According to the CNN report that sunk your campaign, you called yourself a “Black Nazi” among other posts on a pornographic website. There’s no need to wonder if it was the “Black” or “Nazi” that turned them off. They voted for the man who reportedly has an affinity for Adolf Hitler while rejecting you.

You reportedly watched porn like most Americans but have been married to one woman for decades. The man they voted for was convicted of covering up hush money payments to a porn star and has five children by three wives.

You’ve preached before Black and white audiences and can quote the Bible with the best of them. He had trouble thinking of a single passage of Scripture and put his stamp of approval on a blasphemous version of the Bible to make money.

You rose to political prominence by standing up for the Second Amendment, an issue your supporters claimed was near and dear. He rose to political prominence by spreading a bigoted lie about the birth place of the nation’s first Black president.

Trump’s supporters shook off the “Access Hollywood” tape on which he was heard claiming to routinely grab women by the private parts. Your supporters — who were largely Trump supporters — wanted to shake you out of the race after the CNN report.

The excuse will be that he served in office before, that he has experience. You’re in office right now!

You’ve been pretending the country isn’t what it clearly is. This should be a wake-up call, not only for you but every Black man who decided to follow in Trump’s footsteps. They, too, will be rejected when Trump loyalists no longer have use for them.

If that doesn’t do it, maybe this will — they won’t be storming the North Carolina Capitol for you.

Sincerely,

Fellow traveler through the New South.

This story was originally published November 12, 2024 at 5:00 AM.