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MLK’s son destroys North Carolina Republican Mark Robinson

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Martin Luther King III, the son of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., said his father would be “seriously disappointed” by North Carolina’s potential first black governor.

Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the Republican Party’s fierce gubernatorial candidate, has made waves for controversial comments on a range of issues, including endorsing anti-Semitic conspiracies and calling homosexuality “filth.”

Robinson has Martin Luther King Jr. also referred to as an “ersatz pastor” and “communist” in previous Facebook posts.

Martin Luther King III, 66, himself a human rights activist, is speaking out against North Carolina’s current lieutenant governor in a new series of ads.

“But it’s not the little insults that bother me,” King said in a 30-second video. “It is his outright rejection of the civil rights movement that my father and so many others lived and died for.” Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968 amid the civil rights movement and growing protests against the Vietnam War.

Robinson previously claimed that “so many freedoms were lost” during the civil rights movement, during an appearance on a 2018 podcast first reported by CNN.

“As my father said,” King’s eldest son replied, “nothing is more dangerous than honest ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

‘There’s nothing like my father’

The videos spotlighting Martin Luther King III are part of a seven-figure campaign by Progress NC Action, a liberal-leaning advocacy group that has taken a hard line against Robinson’s governorship.

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In response, a spokesman for Robinson’s campaign criticized the group as “yet another far-left, partisan group pursuing extremist priorities.”

“They are completely out of step with North Carolinians and are desperate to hear racist statements from Joe Biden, Josh Stein and the Democrats,” said Mike Lonergan, the campaign’s communications director, referring to Robinson’s opponent and North’s attorney general Carolina, Josh Stein. .

If elected in November, Robinson would be the state’s first black governor.

The ads aired on social media, streaming television, online and print media and launched on Father’s Day Sunday and ahead of Juneteenth, a federal holiday honoring the events of June 19, 1865 in Galveston, Texas, when the last enslaved Black Americans were ordered for free. .

King told USA TODAY he felt called to enter what is expected to be the most contentious race for governor in 2024.

“Mark Robinson’s history of racist, homophobic and bigoted comments demonstrates that he is unfit to lead in North Carolina,” King said in a statement, adding that he and his wife, Arndrea Waters King, “felt it was necessary to speak out. against his use – and that of the former president – ​​of my father’s name to promote hatred.”

Former president and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has given Robinson his full support. And in doing so, he called the North Carolina conservative “Martin Luther King on steroids.”

“I told Mark that,” Trump said at a rally in North Carolina just days ahead of Super Tuesday and the state’s March 5 primary. “I said, I think you’re better than Martin Luther King. I think you’re Martin Luther King times two.’

King called the comments an insult to the name of his father and family.

“We have spent our lives fighting the hate that Lt. Governor Robinson promotes every day,” he told USA TODAY in a statement, “and we want to be clear: my father would not support Mark Robinson, and Mark Robinson looks nothing like my father.”

Raleigh Pastor Mitch Summerfield, who said he was “100% shocked” by Robinson’s statements about the civil rights movement, said watching King’s videos “brought chills.”

“I thought, wow, that was so eloquently said, but so true,” Summerfield said. “That spoke volumes to me.”

There is a lot at stake in the Tar Heel State

Robinson and Stein’s contest will be the big gubernatorial race of 2024, with their state closely watched as the electorate that could help decide the presidency.

North Carolina — once reliably red for Republican candidates for the White House — is now a southern battleground. The Democrats think they have a chance in November.

Trump carried the state in 2020, but by 1.3% — his smallest margin of victory in that election. In 2016, Trump won in North Carolina, beating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by 3.6%.

Still, the former president leads current President Joe Biden by five percentage points in a poll released earlier this month by the East Carolina University Center for Survey Research.

And in that same survey, Robinson and Stein are neck-and-neck, with the Democratic candidate leading by just one point.

Summerfield, who has put together a paper collection of Robinson’s past comments to share with his congregation, has encouraged people to vote. He believes the new campaign with King will get people’s attention.

“The things he said,” Summerfield said of Robinson. “These are the things that, you know, a religious leader and a political person should not do, these are statements that should not come out of their mouths.”

Robinson, who identifies as an evangelical Christian, has addressed church congregations and Christian audiences on multiple occasions.

“A large percentage of Americans go to church today, especially African Americans,” Summerfield said. “If he can come before them, I mean, it could be really damaging… I really believe he’s using his theology as a weapon.”

Robinson goes back and forth on the civil rights movement

Democrats in the state, including Stein, have tried to use Robinson’s past statements against him, especially given North Carolina’s high share of unaffiliated voters.

Many of these controversial comments come from Robinson’s pre-political days.

Robinson first drew attention in 2018 when he spoke as a resident at a Greensboro City Council meeting. His fiery defense of gun rights went viral and soon after, Robinson became famous in conservative circles.

His first foray into politics followed, and in 2020, Robinson became North Carolina’s first Black lieutenant governor.

Robinson has since softened some of his public rhetoric, even contradicting his previous claims.

In his 2018 podcast appearance, Robinson called the 1960 Woolworth sit-in protests in Greensboro — his hometown — “a ridiculous premise.”

“You go there and sit at the lunch counter and demand that these people take your money. How crazy is that?” he said at the time.

Robinson visited the Greensboro Civil Rights Museum, site of the former lunch counter and protests, last August. While there, the Republican candidate called it “an honor to be called a citizen of Greensboro.”

“I’m thrilled that this city has the honor of starting the movement that changed the face of the entire nation,” Robinson said at the time.

Robinson has also received support from one of the sit-in participants, Clarence Henderson.

“I tell you what, I couldn’t be more proud of what you’ve done in the past,” Robinson told Henderson in a video of the pair posted to social media last May.

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