Greensboro’s Least Favorite Son

Mark Robinson, candidate for NC Governor, is a constant flop in his hometown

Speakers line up to speak at Tuesday’s City Council Meeting — none of whom were there because Mark Robinson of Mark Robinson’s call to action. Photo used with permission from Tony Crider.

Earlier this week, the Greensboro City Council Chambers were a sea of green and black, with some rainbow mixed in.

The chambers were so crowded for the City Council meeting that a TV and chairs were set up for overflow, and the tee-shirt colors continued out there. Guilford for All in green, NAACP in black, other local citizens turning out in Pride shirts and regular streetwear.

Members of Guilford for All turned out in huge numbers to oppose Dustin Jones’ and reject Mark Robinson’s call to action. Photo used by permission from Tony Crider.

All this color overshadowed Dustin Jones’ small group of backers who were wearing matching blue gray shirts printed with phrases demonstrating their support for Jones. Jones was terminated from his supervisory role at the fire department after apparent repeated warnings to cease posting homophobic, transphobic, and racist content to social media. His doing so, the city argued, not only violated departmental policy but also compromised his ability to create a safe and open work environment for his department. The crowd gathered on Tuesday night agreed: Of the 28 speaking on the subject, 22 supported Jones’ termination.

That’s not remarkable; that’s common sense. What’s remarkable is that only days earlier Lt. Governor Mark Robinson launched a call to action, trying to mobilize support around Dustin Jones. He said in a radio interview “It’s time for normal people to take a stand and absolutely flood this hall,” encouraging his supporters to attend Greensboro’s City Council meeting. So where were they?

Dustin Jones appeared with about a dozen supporters, grossly overshadowed by citizens who supported his termination. Photo used with permission from Tony Crider.

Mark Robinson announced his bid for Governor just two months ago, to a small crowd at Ace Speedway– an Alamance County haunt known for its Confederate flag flying crowds and defiance for the Covid-19 health ordinances. He made clear that day and all the days since that he plans on running his campaign in the same way he launched his political career: With fiery attacks and extremist talking points. Because of his refusal to back down from…