Mark Robinson: From 'dirt poor' to lieutenant governor via viral video

Less than five years ago, Mark Robinson was working at a furniture factory when he decided to make his views on gun control heard at a meeting of the Greensboro City Council in North Carolina. His passionate speech went viral on Facebook, and he's now the state's first black lieutenant governor, with an eye on running for North Carolina's top office in 2024.

In an interview with WND, Robinson discusses his American dream story, which he chronicles in his newly published autobiography, "We are the Majority!"

He recounts growing up "dirt poor," the ninth of 10 children, in a rat-infested home with an alcoholic father who beat his mother. But he believes he learned more than he ever could have by growing up in a big house, attending a private school or traveling the world.

"Character gets built on struggles," he told WND. "When you have to face situations where you don't have enough to eat, when your family has reached the last of the last. Those are the things that are either going to make you or break you."