Tyrique Robinson represented a new direction in Augusta politics, but he was also under pressure to preserve the status quo, supporters say.
Robinson, 20, ended his own life Nov. 15 after his business partner and former mentor publicly called for him to resign, alleging he misspent funds she entrusted to him. A week before, he was elected the youngest member ever of the Richmond County Board of Education.
“Tyrique was my friend. We graduated from the same high school, and I grew to know him personally,” Augusta Commissioner Jordan Johnson said Thursday. Johnson, 29, drew parallels with his own life as a student leader at Cross Creek High School.
“He could rally those students. Tyrique knew what he was doing. He had this natural leadership gift, and unfortunately we all make mistakes, but he was a leader and Tyrique really felt he could change the school system.”
Ahead of the election, Robinson and fellow school board candidates Brittiany Broadwater and Christopher Mulliens would visit Johnson’s Georgia Shift office where the group is working to cultivate young leaders, Johnson said.
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Sadly, the “blood sport” nature of Augusta politics may have contributed to Robinson’s demise, Johnson said.
“Politics is not an easy arena to attempt to effect change in, and that’s why it’s important to have people around you with your best interests at heart,” Johnson said.
Robinson’s business partner, Melissa Oden, began urging him to resign after the election to make way for another candidate, Commissioner Ben Hasan, to claim the post, which is currently held by Hasan’s brother, A.K. Hasan. Oden had previously asked Ben Hasan not to run for school board, to allow Robinson to run unopposed.
Robinson said in media interviews just before his death that Oden’s claims were unfounded, and that she and Hasan turned on him because he wouldn’t allow himself to be controlled.
Former District 6 commission candidate Mario Taylor also had gotten to know Robinson during their campaigns. Taylor has a transportation business, like Robinson, and said he was impressed with the 20-year-old.
“He would reach out for different things. What I was amazed about this young man is he was hungry for information; very goal driven,” Taylor said. “He was one who didn’t claim to know it all. He was willing to learn what he didn’t know and he would listen.”
Taylor said he ran into issues he thinks Robinson did during his campaign for District 6, “because of some of the things I was seeing from behind the scenes.
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“If you’re not handpicked, if you’re not in the same circle then you’re not somewhat welcomed,” he said. “If you buck up against the process and you’re not willing to be controlled by the narratives, then you will have a problem. It can only go so far when you have a 20-year-old dealing with high-powered people.”
Former commissioner Moses Todd said he also had established a bond with Robinson, and spoke to him when the accusations surfaced.
“I was in communication with him a few days before the tragedy and had offered financial help, but he said he didn’t need it,” Todd said.
Robinson “indicated he was being pressured and intimidated” by Oden and Hasan, but said the accusations were “mostly rumors,” according to Todd.
Todd said he met with Robinson’s family Thursday and that the district attorney’s office was examining Robinson’s cell phone.
Robinson, who had served in the Georgia Army National Guard, had established himself as a candidate seeking change from the status quo.
While he was unopposed in the election, his campaign created a poster featuring himself, Broadwater, Mulliens and fellow newcomer candidate Yiet Knight. “It’s time to change Richmond County schools now,” it said, encouraging early voting.
The poster, and Robinson himself, was viewed by some incumbents in the community as a threat, said school board Trustee Wayne Frazier, who tends to vote against the status quo and rail against the board for the system’s failing grades.
“Some of us that were already seated took offense to him showing that poster and took that personally. Some bullied him and said nasty things about him,” Frazier said. “This is a young man with a future, and some of the comments he made was directly opposite of what some of the local elected officials believed in.”
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Their response was brutal, yet widely accepted, Frazier said.
“At this small level, down here in Augusta, Ga., we are no different from what they do in Washington, D.C. We will lie, we will do anything that it takes for us to win, no matter what,” he said.
Frazier said he hoped the tragedy would help unite the community.
“What do we learn from it and how can we say it in a positive way to bring people together around this situation, to make his death count for something other than continuing to go down the same road?” he said.
Had Robinson survived and Broadwater, Mulliens and Knight been elected, they could have joined Frazier and perhaps others in significantly changing the direction of the school system, said former District 6 trustee candidate Michael Gallucci.
“This new set of people that had the potential of being elected would have been a whole new slate that the school board would have had to answer to,” Gallucci said.
Susan McCord is a staff writer with The Augusta Press. Reach her at susan@theaugustapress.com
