THE MAKING OF A PATRIOTHere is the remarkable journey of faith, grit, clear-thinking, and powerful expression that propelled Mark Robinson from the depths of poverty to a political awakening as a conservative who would ultimately become the first black lieutenant governor of North Carolina. It's a story filled with lessons and inspiration, as well as a loving evocation of Robinson's childhood, and his blue-collar, working man's path through the economic ravages wrought by NAFTA and unthinking globalism. Most of all it is the story of a man speaking for us, for the majority of Americans who have built a country on common sense and sacred individual rights.When Robinson rose at a Greensboro City Council meeting to oppose a senseless gun control gesture with an impassioned (and unrehearsed) speech defending the commonsense and Constitutional right of all law-abiding Americans to bear arms, he did not know he would soon enter the history books as North Carolina's first black lieutenant governor. He was just a man speaking for the majority of gun-owning Americans who did not deserve to be vilified for the actions of lunatics. The speech made headlines and galvanized the nation, but anyone who knew Mark Robinson well would not have been surprised. The ninth of ten children, Robinson's childhood was spent in poverty with a hard-drinking and abusive father to contend with. This might have been a recipe for despair, but for a loving mother and a strong and vibrant church serving up role models of success. Plus, in a world where public schools once functioned, Robinson's days at an inner city high school were marked with a flair for public speaking and leadership in the JROTC. Robinson entered the once-thriving, blue-collar workplace in North Carolina's Piedmont-only to run up against the ravages of NAFTA as it decimated American manufacturing. These hard times served as a wake-up call for Robinson who realized that he was a Republican and a conservative at heart-and had always been so. It was a conviction that led to a successful run against all odds for the lieutenant governorship and launched a powerful voice for a return to faith, decency, common sense, and liberty across America. Here is Mark Robinson's story.
