Source: Indy Week
If there was any question about the North Carolina GOP aligning with the extreme right, look no further than your local school board race where radical right-wing groups and the state GOP are endorsing the same candidates, some with pretty disturbing positions on education.
In Wake County last week, the GOP announced its endorsements for school board and was in lock-step with two far-right groups, The Carolina Teachers Alliance (CTA) and Liberty First Grassroots.
CTA is a new teachers association set up in opposition to the long-standing North Carolina Association of Educators. Among the non-issues the CTA elevates are “parents’ rights,” “curriculum transparency,” and “removing (critical race theory) from the curriculum and teacher training.”
“Our (t)eachers need to have the freedom to teach patriotism and love of country, and should not be forced to deliver biased political indoctrination,” states the CTA website.
The CTA announced their picks for school board last month, which were the same as the GOP’s.
Liberty First Grassroots is another conservative political action committee. The group openly opposes gay marriage and “obscene” and “gender” books including “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” “Gender Queer,” and “George.” The group’s endorsements were the same as the GOP’s except for one.
One of the most concerning endorsements from the GOP was Michele Morrow in District 9, a candidate also endorsed by CTA and Liberty First Grassroots. Morrow is an adamant Trump supporter, conspiracy theorist, and anti-LGBTQ campaigner, per her posts on social media. In one video, she compares people in same-sex relationships to pedophiles and “sexual perverts,” says drag queens are “sexually confused” men who dress “like monsters,” and accuses them of preying on children.
The last few years have been tough, but our kids are headed back to school and our teachers are working hard to make sure nobody falls behind. Instead of divisive vitriol, our educators and children need support and resources, not political games that only use them as pawns rather than building them up in order to thrive.
