Opinion: Morrow wants to lead NC schools but still traffics in violent words, intolerance

Republican Michele Morrow of Cary called public schools “indoctrination centers” and does not enroll her own children in them. She home-schools. Yet, she is running to lead the state’s public schools as the superintendent of public instruction.

This might seem odd on the surface.

However, when you dig deeper into her views — it gets downright ridiculous.

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She wants to lead NC schools but keeps making violent statements

Morrow has a habit of making violent statements. She also has no qualms with insulting wide and diverse groups of people.

I have written about some of these “wild” remarks. She has added some new ones.

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In a Sept. 30 email to supporters she cast the Nov. 5 election in apocalyptic terms: “Our children are being attacked. This is the American Revolution 2.0! We either willingly fight now, or we will be forced to fight on Nov 6th. This is war, ladies and gentlemen!"

She has since said this was not a call for violence. But in my reading of history, American Revolution 1.0 was not merely rhetoric but involved guns and bullets. And a comment like “this is war” speaks for itself.

Mo Green, who is Morrow’s Democratic opponent, and a former superintendent of Guilford County Schools, told CBS-17: “Advocating for violence is not new for Michele Morrow.”

Morrow has in the past on social media called for the execution of President Obama and other Democratic figures. A USA Today columnist in August asked her about those sentiments. Morrow played them off as “sarcastic.”

Yet, she could not stop being Michele Morrow. Because then she added that the question she responded to on that online post is what should happen to someone who committed treasonous actions. She demurred over whether Obama had done so. This appeared to be her one hint of recognition that she is running for public office and that people can actually hear and see her words.

Morrow made up a lie about the LGBTQ community. Bullying is wrong.

Morrow attended the Trump Jan. 6, 2021, "Stop the Steal" protest that degenerated into a riot and failed insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. She was not arrested or charged, and I guess that’s a feather in her red cap. She is a 2020 election-denier based on her past online comments but has ducked questions about where she stands now.

How hard is it to say after four years that President Biden won? The ducking of the question actually answers the question.

Morrow is anti-LGBTQ+ and will make up lies about them. That’s just not right.

She falsely claimed the “plus” sign includes pedophilia, in an online post attacking Green, who has the endorsement of LGBTQ advocacy group Equality North Carolina. Morrow’s kind of slur makes innocent people targets. It’s bullying.

Not behavior we want our schools chief to model for our schoolchildren, to say the least.

Morrow still supports Mark Robinson, scandal-plagued candidate for NC governor

Morrow is still supporting scandal-plagued Mark Robinson. He is a governor’s candidate who has also made anti-LGBTQ statements, also talked of violence against political enemies and has denigrated Martin Luther King Jr.

Robinson’s alleged alter-ego as the porn-site consumer and commentator “minisoldr” has landed him in political hot water and left him with few Republican allies. In still supporting him, Morrow is joined by Dan Bishop, a U.S. congressman running for state attorney general, and Hal Weatherman, a candidate for lieutenant governor.

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Green takes traditional endorsement route; Morrow is champion for Moms For Liberty

Morrow’s opponent, Green, is taking a more traditional path in his race for the superintendent’s seat. He has tallied up about two dozen endorsements ranging from the N.C. Association of Educators to the state AFL-CIO to the state’s largest newspapers, The News & Observer and Charlotte Observer. 

Among Morrow endorsements is Moms For Liberty. This nationally aligned group was in the news recently for harassing a Wake County teacher and his school for his jokingly wearing a tutu during Spirit Week.

The extremist organization has always backed Morrow, including her failed bid in 2022 to win a seat on the Wake County school board. Morrow was one of nine parents that had tried to get criminal charges against the Wake school system for some of the books in school libraries.

The side that wants to ban books is never on the right side of history.

I wouldn’t think they’d be on the right side of public education, either.

Opinion Editor Myron B. Pitts can be reached at [email protected] or 910-486-3559.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Opinion: Like Mark Robinson, NC schools candidate invites the drama