Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson delivers GOP's response to Gov. Roy Cooper's State of the State address
Be taken care of by the state
But my mom decided to take a different path
She walked across the street from my home and got
a job as a custodian at the local university there
She cleaned up for other people's Children to provide for
her own
Remember the first paycheck she got she picked up mcdonald's
for dinner
You would have thought we were eating a five star
meal
That was the best food I've ever had
I was so proud of my mom
She was my hero
She encouraged me to dream and told me that with
faith hard work and perseverance I could achieve anything
My mom passed away in 2016
I know she would be proud to see her son
serving as the first black Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina
The journey to where I am today was long and
difficult
Like so many other North Carolinians I faced my share
of adversity
I lost not one but two jobs to NAFTA
I laid awake at night wondering how I was going
to pay my bills
I lost my house my car and decades ago was
forced to declare bankruptcy
But like my mother taught me
I leaned on my faith continued to work hard and
persevered
Now I've been married to my wife for over 30
years
We have two wonderful Children and two incredible grandchildren
I've served in the military worked in manufacturing been a
general manager at a restaurant and owned a small business
with my wife
You see I'm not a politician who talks about the
issues facing our state as someone who doesn't understand them
In fact I don't consider myself a politician at all
What I am is a public servant who knows what
the people of North Carolina are going through and wants
to serve them and will fight for them
And like my own personal journey our state has experienced
both hardship and victory since Republicans were elected to the
majority in the general assembly
They have implemented common sense economic policies to ensure that
you can keep more of your hard earned money and
they've been good stewards of your money like your family
They've had to set a budget and stick to it
That fiscal responsibility resulted in historic economic growth
The Republican led General Assembly turned a state that was
billions of dollars in debt and struggling financially into an
economic powerhouse
North Carolina is the number one state in the nation
to do business
But while we've seen tremendous growth across the state many
families are still struggling
If the Democrats have their way they'll pull us back
into an era of government overreach high taxes and attacks
on our personal freedoms
During the pandemic we saw just how far they would
go to control your lives
They shut down your businesses
They kept your Children out of school and they told
you you couldn't go to church
The Biden administration's tax and spend philosophy is hurting North
Carolinians at every turn
Prices of essentials like gas and groceries are skyrocketing and
we're still facing shortages of everyday goods like baby formula
here in North Carolina
Democrats will follow the lead of President Biden and their
counterparts in Congress and go on a spending spree with
your money
We can't afford that
We have the opportunity to provide relief to our fellow
citizens by further cutting personal income taxes for all hard
working North Carolinians
We can do this
Thanks to the fiscal responsibility of our Republican led legislature
that has transformed deficits into surpluses
One way to continue growing
Our economy is supporting quality education
I'm passionate about making sure that North Carolinians maximize their
potential and can follow their dreams
Teachers have one of the most important jobs in our
society
We must hold them to professional standards and we must
pay them as the professionals
They are we need to quit asking teachers to be
police officers social workers and parents their job is to
teach plain and simple and what should they be teaching
our students They should be teaching our students how to
think not what to think ensuring that personal or political
ideologies stay out of the classroom and then we get
back to the basics of reading writing and arithmetic
It's a parent's responsibility to teach their Children about right
and wrong
It's a teacher's responsibility to impart knowledge to them over
the last few years it's been harder than ever for
our teachers to do that
COVID lockdown significantly impacted our children's learning and data
Now shows that kids can't read on a grade level
that's unacceptable
I'll tell you something else that's unacceptable
The violence in our schools After 9 11 Airport and
Airline Security was fundamentally transformed in the wake of the
many tragedies that we've seen on school campuses
Not nearly enough has been done to expand security at
our schools
The safety of our students shouldn't be a Republican or
Democrat issue
It's about protecting our sons and daughters as you can
tell I'm very passionate about education
It's the reason that I ran for Lieutenant governor during
my first few months in office as a member of
the State Board of Education I evaluated the state's proposed
K through 12 social studies standards and opposed the ideologically
driven materials because of this
I the first black Lieutenant governor of North Carolina was
called a white supremacists and depicted as a coup Klux
Klan member by one of the largest media outlets in
the state that did not deter me
Instead it fueled me to fight harder for our students
we've accomplished a lot during our time in office But
I'm most proud of working with the legislature to secure
$11.6 million dollars in funding for apprenticeships programs for the
rural parts of our state programs like this are going
to be vital as we look to the future
Like many North Carolinians my path to a degree was
not straight or easy for nearly my entire education
I was a full time student and a full time
worker
Often I could only take a few classes while working
to support my family
It was just months ago as the Lieutenant governor that
I finally walked across the stage at the University of
North Carolina at Greensboro and earned my degree 30 years
after starting my journey I'm proud of the university system
that we have here in North Carolina
It's among the best in the country and it's crucial
to the economic growth of our state
Many companies relocated North Carolina because of the quality workforce
created by our universities
However we must announce the misconception that the only way
to success is through a four year degree
Thanks to investments by our Republican legislature
We also have an incredible community college system where trade
and technical programs provide fast tracked well paying careers in
fields that are vital to our state's economy and to
our communities electricians plumbers masons welders mechanics and other skilled
trade workers earn incredible starting salaries
Many of those professionals are aging out leaving crucial shortages
across our state
As our state grows industries move and industries move here
Those skilled labor and high tech manufacturing jobs will continue
to be in demand as we look to the future
We must ensure that our state is equipped to deal
with the growth we are experiencing
That means we need to have accurate adequate infrastructure and
I don't just mean widening roads and fixing bridges around
the metropolitan areas
We need to ensure that the entire state from Murphy
to manual has what it needs
A key component of this is ensuring that everyone in
our state no matter where you live has access to
high speed internet
It's a fact of life that high speed internet connections
are essential in both business and education
It's gonna take a lot of people to work and
work on this issue and I would be remiss if
we didn't acknowledge the ongoing work by our governor and
our legislature and even our federal delegation
This issue like so many others we face shouldn't be
a partisan one
All of us as public servants should be able to
come together and get this job done for the people
that we serve
The reality is that most people just want their elected
officials to do their jobs to make sure that our
education system is strong that our economy is healthy and
that our communities are safe which brings me to the
next item
I want to talk to you about this evening
Public safety
I am highly dismayed when I see elected officials abandoned
the men and women of law enforcement at the first
sign of trouble
And I'm furious when they follow narratives instead of following
facts the men and women who protect our communities and
our state deserve respect
Elected officials should make sure police have what they need
and encourage them to do their jobs and be proactive
in fighting crime
That's not the case
Today we see law enforcement officers today demonized and vilified
and our communities are paying the price
Police departments are struggling to fill positions soft on crime
policies released dangerous criminals back onto our streets
And this isn't just in places like San Francisco or
Chicago
It's happening right here in North Carolina
In places like Asheville countless officers across the state just
want to do their jobs and serve their communities
We must restore public trust in law enforcement and return
an air of respect to the men and women in
blue
This means empowering police to engage with the community they
serve properly training and equipping them to deescalate dangerous situations
And of course that elected officials stand with our law
enforcement officers not use them as political poems here in
North Carolina
We and that includes me have an opportunity to go
beyond politics as normal in our society
Today we are so divided and thoughtful discussion is often
replaced with tweets sound bites and heated rhetoric when you're
sworn in
They don't give you a manual or God for dummies
so to speak on how to serve or face the
challenges of public pressure
They don't teach you to handle a media that's more
interested in the gotcha game instead of fairly reporting the
news
So what do you do You try your best You
stay true to who you are if you make a
mistake which you will and I have you learn from
it and work hard to do even better
That is what the citizens of North Carolina expect their
elected officials to do whether it be on the city
council or on the Council of State
We must drop our weapons of political war
We must work hard on behalf of all North Carolinians
We must come together to work on real solutions to
the real problems that we face to overcome the challenges
as we always have and to celebrate our victories
I've shared with you tonight little about my personal story
and the journey that our state has been on
I want to leave you with this
Never could I have imagined as a poor black kid
growing up on Locust Street in Greensboro that I would
be where I am today in the same way that
I overcame the challenges in my own life
We have an opportunity as a state to confront the
challenges that we face today and we can face them
head on and work for a better future not just
for our own tomorrows but for the tomorrow's of future
generations we all have a duty to make sure those
Children have hope that they know they live in a
state where anything is possible and with hard work they
can achieve their dreams
I'm honored to serve as your lieutenant governor and to
live in the greatest state in the greatest nation on
earth
May God bless America North Carolina and may God bless
you
Thank you