In unearthed Facebook posts, Mark Robinson also called the civil rights movement “crap” and vowed to work on MLK Day because he’s “not a leach."

Martin Luther King Jr. was just an “ersatz pastor” and a “communist,” and the 1960s civil rights movement was “crap,” according to a series of Facebook posts by Mark Robinson, the leading Republican candidate to be North Carolina’s next governor.

Robinson, who is currently the state’s lieutenant governor, regularly criticized King and the civil rights movement for years on Facebook ― specifically on MLK Day ― HuffPost found amid a review of his posts. The Black politician also downplayed slavery, rejected the idea that he’s part of the African American community, and attacked the late congressman and civil rights icon, John Lewis.

These posts are surfacing at a time when Robinson, who is on track to be the GOP nominee for governor in November, has been trying to soften his rhetoric, and celebrate King and the civil rights movement.