No, Mark Robinson didn’t promote Hitler. But what he did say wasn’t great | Opinion

North Carolina Lt. Gov. and ardent culture warrior Mark Robinson had yet another viral moment this week after he seemed to suggest we revisit the writings of dictators like Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin.

A clip of Robinson’s speech at a Moms for Liberty summit in Philadelphia accumulated millions of views on social media, drawing outrage and condemnation from Democrats, including fellow gubernatorial candidate Josh Stein.

“Here’s the thing,” Robinson said in the speech. “Whether you’re talking about Adolf Hitler, whether you’re talking about Chairman Mao, whether you’re talking about Stalin … or whether you’re talking about a dozen other despots all around the globe, it is time for us to get back and start reading some of those quotes.”

A longer clip posted by Robinson himself showed the original video was missing some important context. Though Robinson was clearly being critical of Hitler and others like him, it’s clear he still believes there is some educational value in reading their work.

“It’s time for us to start teaching our children about the dirty, despicable, awful things that those communist and socialist despots did in our history,” Robinson’s speech continued.

Democrats didn’t include that context in their criticism of Robinson. They either didn’t do their homework or decided to ignore the additional remarks. Either was wrong.

But Robinson is, too. First of all, when did we ever stop teaching about Hitler and other despots? I learned about World War II and the Holocaust in many history classes, and those lessons certainly never painted Hitler or Mussolini as heroes. And as lieutenant governor, Robinson ought to know that education on the Holocaust and genocide is required by state statute, and federal law has provided funding for Holocaust education since 2020. Of course, “Mein Kampf” is probably excluded from most reading lists, and that’s perfectly fine — reading it is unnecessary even when teaching students about the horrors of Hitler.

And while Robinson and his peers insist that children these days are being brainwashed by Marxist ideals, I was taught to regard communism in a strictly negative light. In fact, the only thing I actually learned about communism was that it was bad, even if I didn’t understand what it was. That experience isn’t unique to me, but it must not be good enough for Robinson and Republicans in other states. Florida, for example, now has a law designating Nov. 7 as “Victims of Communism Day” and requiring students to receive lessons about the “evils of communism.”

The reason Robinson even brought up Hitler was to defend a Moms for Liberty chapter that recently received backlash for quoting Hitler in a newsletter. Robinson claimed it was no different than quoting Hitler in a history book. But history books put the quotes in context, and the newsletter did not — it quoted Hitler talking about “owning” the youth as if it were words of inspiration from Mother Teresa.

The biggest problem with Robinson’s speech, though, is its hypocrisy. It’s particularly ironic that Robinson so firmly believes in teaching students about the “dirty” and “despicable” moments in world history, yet wants to shield them from the ugly parts of America’s past. He’s insisting we view the rest of the world through a critical lens, but when it comes to U.S. history, it’s as if we must look at it with rose-colored glasses.

Robinson doesn’t want students learning too much about race and racism, but how can you teach about Nazism without discussing the fact that it promoted a certain racial hierarchy, and people were killed because of it? Nor do Robinson and other Republicans like when students learn that racism and discrimination still exist in modern society. But Nazism, fascism and antisemitism are very much still present today, too, and that’s a conversation that must be had. Robinson himself has a history of antisemitic comments — he has repeatedly minimized the atrocity of the Holocaust and invoked harmful tropes and conspiracies about Jewish people.

These inconsistencies expose how hollow Robinson’s “indoctrination” narrative really is. Teaching students that socialism is inherently evil — which is about as nakedly political as it gets — is perfectly fine. Pretending LGBTQ+ people don’t exist is OK ,to him, too. But teaching a complete version of history, as opposed to a whitewashed one? That’s Marxist brainwashing, simply because he doesn’t like it.