GOP says Mo Green is the extremist in NC superintendent race. Here are the facts. | Opinion

Republican state superintendent nominee Michele Morrow has come under fire for past comments in which she supported executing prominent Democratic officials and called public schools “socialist indoctrination centers.”

Naturally, North Carolina Republicans have responded by attempting to swivel the spotlight back onto Morrow’s Democratic opponent, Mo Green, insisting that he is the true extremist in the race.

In a recent campaign video, Morrow said she is “facing the most radical extremist the Democrats have ever run for superintendent in the history of North Carolina.” Green “spent six years leading a progressive organization that funded efforts to destroy families, public schools and everyone’s safety in the state,” Morrow claimed.

Morrow is referring to Green’s tenure as executive director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, a nonprofit that invests in social, environmental and economic justice across North Carolina. Calling it a “progressive organization” is deceptive, because many of the causes it supports (public education and racial equity, for instance) are not ideological. While it does donate money to some left-leaning groups, it also provides significant funding to churches, local governments and universities for things like public art, scholarships and community programs that benefit all North Carolinians.

In the video — which has seemingly been removed from YouTube — Morrow accused Green of funding groups that are trying to remove safety officers from schools, “anti-government groups” that rioted during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and groups that are “responsible for bringing thousands of illegal aliens into our state.”

Former state party executive director Dallas Woodhouse took to social media to call Green a “radical, marxist anti police funder” and accused him of “funding violence.”

Republicans seem to be especially focused on a grant that the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation gave an organization called Blueprint NC in 2020. Woodhouse said that this grant “directly funded BLM while they were rioting across NC.”

“the promos he paid led Anti-government riots that tore down statues, burned cities, and destroyed businesses from 2018 - 2020…..” Woodhouse wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

There is no evidence to support this. The $50,000 grant was earmarked for the “NC for Black Lives project,” not for Black Lives Matter. Blueprint NC describes itself as a “progressive ecosystem” of nonprofit partner organizations committed to an “anti-racist, inclusive democracy.” Partner organizations include groups like ACLU of North Carolina, Democracy NC, Equality NC and the North Carolina Justice Center, according to its website.

The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation has given many grants to organizations that support law enforcement accountability and criminal justice reform, including alternatives to police such as crisis responders and mental health support. Many of those groups have worked alongside local governments on community safety initiatives, including in Durham. Equating this with “funding violence” or being “anti-police” is wildly misleading.

No examples were found of the foundation supporting groups that are “responsible for bringing thousands of illegal aliens into our state.” Morrow may have been referring to a group of donations totaling $75,000 to Latino advocacy groups after hundreds of immigrants were arrested in statewide Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in 2019. In the wake of the raids, advocacy groups raised money to help families impacted. (Important caveat: those groups do not “bring thousands of illegal aliens into the state.”)

Has Green aligned himself with groups and causes that some Republicans don’t agree with? Yes. He’s a Democrat, so that should come as no surprise, just like it shouldn’t be surprising to see left-leaning groups like Planned Parenthood endorse him. But does that make him a radical leftist who supports Marxist violence? No.

Let’s just call this what it is: a deflection. Republicans want North Carolinians to focus on anything besides the zealotry of their own candidate, who spreads hateful, dangerous rhetoric and is openly hostile toward public schools. While Republicans accuse Green of supporting violence, the party and its top leaders have yet to comment on Morrow’s explicit calls for violence against Democrats like Barack Obama and Joe Biden, which she even doubled down on last week following a CNN report. They say Green is “funding rioters” but neglect to mention the fact that Morrow herself went to Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6 to help “take back America” and “stop the steal.”

Deep down, they must realize that it’s Morrow who is the most extreme superintendent nominee North Carolina has ever seen, because they’re working mighty hard to distract you from it.