When Morrow ran for school board in 2022, she referred to public schools as ‘indoctrination centers.’ Now she wants to control North Carolina’s education system as state superintendent.

She has never worked in a public school and has referred to them as “indoctrination centers.” She attended the riot at the U.S. Capitol and called for former President Donald Trump to use military force to stay in power. She has been known to use hashtags affiliated with the conspiracy theory QAnon.

Yet after defeating the incumbent in a Super Tuesday primary, Michele Morrow is the Republican nominee for North Carolina superintendent. Morrow will be running against Democrat Maurice (Mo) Green.

If elected, she would be responsible for a $12 billion budget, 115 school districts and 1.36 million public school students. Concern around her campaign has grown since she became the party’s nominee.

“We believe that Morrow is uniquely unqualified for this position to serve public school students and educators across the state,” Tamika Walker Kelly, the president of the North Carolina Association of Educators, told me.

I wanted to talk to Morrow more about her stances and thoughts on public education. After interviewing her, I worry about what it would mean for my home state of North Carolina – and the country, more broadly – if she were elected. Her rise in prominence is running parallel to parents’ rights movements across the country that threaten to destroy public education.

The lie that public schools are ‘indoctrination centers’

When Morrow ran for Wake County’s school board in 2022, she referred to public schools as “socialism centers” and “indoctrination centers.” Her own five children have attended public and private schools in other states, but have been homeschooled since moving to North Carolina. At one point, she told people not to send their children to public schools.

Morrow told me she stood by her claim that schools were indoctrinating children.

“Children believe any adult that is put in front of them,” Morrow told me. “And if we are telling children to be divided by the color of their skin, if we are putting politics into the classroom, if we are discussing the fact that they might be in the wrong body and that the United States is inherently racist, and that socialism is the answer for America and that capitalism is a threat to the entire world, then that is indoctrination, it is lies, and it needs to stop.”

As someone who went through the North Carolina public school system, I can assure you that I saw no brainwashing occurring. If you don’t believe me, a task force spearheaded by the lieutenant governor, conservative firebrand Mark Robinson, failed to find compelling evidence of indoctrination.

What Morrow and other Republicans don’t realize is that they are the ones putting politics in the classroom.

They brought politics into the classroom in 2021 when they began complaining at school board meetings over masking in schools. It continued with the claims that “critical race theory” is being taught and has culminated in actual legislation like the Parents Bill of Rights across the country or the “Don’t Say Gay” bill in Florida.

Before Republicans started complaining about these things, I had never known North Carolina public schools to be political battlegrounds.

The MAGA candidate: North Carolina is on the verge of getting a MAGA governor. Why do we let this happen?

Concerning social media posts about assassinating Obama

Morrow has come under fire for previous social media posts beyond her involvement in Jan. 6, 2021. In 2020, she called for the public execution of former President Barack Obama in a reply on X, previously Twitter.

“I prefer a Pay Per View of him in front of the firing squad,” she tweeted in response to someone suggesting Obama should be sent to Guantanamo Bay.

She has also called for the killing of President Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and a handful of other prominent Democrats. Morrow has also repeatedly used the QAnon-associated hashtag WWG1WGA on her personal social media account.

GOP controlling women: You’re not imagining it. Republicans have been weird about women for years.

When asked about the execution posts, Morrow said the they were “hyperbolic” and “rhetorical.”

“It was a sarcastic comment,” Morrow told me. “But the question that was being answered – and there are probably over 100 comments in that thread that they pulled from – was ‘What should happen to these individuals should they be found guilty of treason and crimes against humanity?’ So that was my response.”

I asked if she believed there was reason for Obama to be found guilty of treason, as she previously claimed.

“I am not a judge,” she told me. “I think we have moved on.”

Spoiler alert: There is no known reason Obama or any of the Democrats she targeted would be tried for treason.

Morrow participated in riot at US Capitol

Morrow also attended the Capitol riot that took place on Jan. 6, 2021.

In a since-deleted Facebook livestream, Morrow called for the arrest of those who certified the 2020 election results, adding that Trump should have used the military to stay in power.

“If the police won’t do it, and the Department of Justice won’t do it, then he will have to enact the Insurrection Act,” Morrow said at the time. “In which case the Insurrection Act completely puts the Constitution to the side and says, now the military rules all.”

She denies that she called for a military coup.

“I was calling for certification to go back to the states, because at the time, we wanted it to be investigated,” Morrow said.

I asked Morrow if she believed the 2020 election was stolen.

“Do you believe that the issue for the superintendent is about an election that happened four years ago?” she asked me. When I pressed further, she began talking about noncitizen voting; I never got a firm answer.

Conservative takeover of education

What’s surprising about Morrow’s win against incumbent Catherine Truitt is how similar their ideologies are.

In February, Truitt’s campaign sent out mailers claiming she helped get “woke politics” out of public schools. She also supported conservative policies like the state’s Parents Bill of Rights, a 2023 law making it illegal to talk about gender identity or sexuality in elementary school through fourth grade.

Despite that reality, Morrow advertised herself as being further right than Truitt – and it worked.  

Morrow’s rise to the forefront of the state’s Republican Party is happening in tandem with the ascent of Lt. Gov. Robinson, who is running for the governorship this November. Robinson has endorsed Morrow, saying at a campaign event that “we’re gonna make sure we do everything to get you in office.”

It is also occurring at a time when public schools across the country are being targeted by legislatures, as in Florida and Louisiana.

Her campaign also coincides with Project 2025 and the threat it poses to education across the country. Earlier this week, Trump said in a conversation with Elon Musk that he would close the Department of Education if reelected.

All North Carolina students deserve a quality education. To me, this is why it’s important that the Leandro Plan, a multibillion dollar school funding program that has been stuck in litigation for 30 years, be implemented.

Surprisingly, Morrow seems supportive of the initiative.

“In my role as state Superintendent,” she told me in an email, “I will absolutely advocate on behalf of our students to the General Assembly so that we not only fulfill the requirements of Leandro, but its spirit and with it, the full intent of our state constitution.”

Still, it does not change the fact that Morrow poses a threat to any child who happens to be LGBTQ+. It also does not change the fact that her social media posts are alarming, and are representative of someone who does not respect those who disagree with her.

North Carolina deserves better than Morrow. We all do.

Follow USA TODAY elections columnist Sara Pequeño on X, formerly Twitter, @sara__pequeno

Several trees were blown down Sunday night in Wake County as severe storms moved through the area.

According to the National Weather Service, several downed trees were reported in Willow Springs, and several viewers told WRAL News they saw multiple downed trees along Interstate 40 between Raleigh and Benson.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation confirmed some trees fell onto the interstate, but crews cleared them from the road and are now focusing on removing the debris.

The National Weather Service issued severe thunderstorm warnings between 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. for Wake, Johnston and Wayne counties. Some warnings are still in effect in the eastern part of the state.

WRAL News issued a Weather Alert Day for the risk of strong winds and hail damage from isolated storm cells that could pop up in central North Carolina.

The downed trees are causing several backups on the interstate as drivers try to move around them. If you have any photos of storm damage, please share themhere.

“My mom went down to Haiti, they did this last piece of the ceremony, and something sinister happened,” said Timothy Jackson.

A North Carolina man is asking for answers after his mom died while on a Vodou retreat in Haiti.

Dana Jackson, 51, wanted to become a Manbo priestess. A Manbo priestess “is a female ritual specialist in the Haitian Vodou tradition. Like her male counterpart, the oungan (or houngan), she performs ceremonies, initiations, healings, and divinations,” according to an article on the Harvard University website.

Vodou is an African religion and comes from the word Fon which means “God” or “Spirit” and “originated in the ancient kingdom of Dahomey (present-day Nigeria, Benin, and Togo)”, according to an article on the religion by PBS.org. Alternative spellings of the religion include Vodun and Vodoun, but not Voodoo. The spelling Voodoo is considered “the sensationalist and derogatory Western creation,” the article continues.

Her son, Timothy Jackson, told USA TODAY that this was something that she wanted to do and had been practicing for a few years prior to her trip to Haiti.

“Four years ago, my mom started to do a little bit of research on the African traditional spiritual belief systems and Vodou was a part of that,” he said. “She had kind of been on this path of just kind of doing research and practicing, or at least, just doing her due diligence as far as research is concerned.”

Jackson said that his mom left for Haiti on July 1 and was supposed to return to the United States on July 26. His mom traveled with a group of people who had joined a house in order to participate in the Vodou rituals.

“The people that she went down there with, their name is Sosyete and I believe that that means society in the Turkish language and Nago,” Jackson said. “These weren’t strangers that she went down there with. These are people that she’s built a relationship with.”

Jackson said the group recently went on a trip to Boston together in June.

Missing: She was last seen July 31. Her husband reported her missing Aug. 5. Where is Mamta Kafle?

No communication was apart of the Vodou ceremony

During part of the Vodou ceremony, Jackson expected to not hear from his mom.

“If you do any research about that part of the ceremony, even just on Google, it’ll tell you, that’s very sacred and things of that nature,” he said. “So she sent me one last message on the 13th, and she said, ‘we will talk on the 21st going to church tomorrow.‘”

Jackson and his mom spoke every day. The no communication part was nerve-wrecking to him, but he wanted to respect his mother’s decision to participate in the ritual. In the last message he received from his mom on July 21 she asked him to, “pray for her.”

“That whole entire week just kind of low key, (I was) having anxiety because I’m not able to hear from her, and I know that this is a very important part of the ceremony,” he said. “On the 21st, I didn’t hear anything from her. I did reach out to her at about 5 p.m. on WhatsApp. I didn’t get any response.”

Mom doesn’t respond after Vodou ceremony; son finds out about her death

The next day, Jackson still did not get a message from his mom, and he began to worry.

“I woke up. I’m not gonna lie, I was in a little bit of a panic, because I felt like by now, she at least would have responded to my text,” he said.

Around 5 p.m. on July 22, his grandmother broke the news that his mom had died.

“The way she told me was, ‘your mom’s not coming back from Haiti.’ So I hung up the phone with her,” he said  “I called her back. I asked her, ‘what did she mean?’ She said, ‘she’s not coming back from Haiti. She passed away.’ I hung up the phone. I called her again.”

After a lot of back and forth between Jackson and his grandmother, he called his grandfather, and he confirmed that his mom had died.

‘Something sinister happened’

In order to confirm his mother’s passing, Jackson reached out to one of the leaders of the group that went to Haiti with his mom. The first thing they asked him was, “how much did he know?”

“To be completely honest with you, my initial thought was my mom went down to Haiti, they did this last piece of the ceremony, and something sinister happened,” he said.

The person that spoke with him told him that his mom had gotten extremely sick during the ceremony. They told him that she kind of fainted. When she regained consciousness, she didn’t know where she was. When a member of the house asked her where she was, she said in Virginia, Jackson said.

However, Jackson said his family hadn’t lived in Virginia in over a year.

Jackson said they also told him that they brought her to the hospital. At the hospital, she started to have seizures, and they said she had a heart attack and a stroke.

“That was the initial story,” he said. “They said that my mom didn’t bring her medicine. So there was a red flag, because what medicine are you guys talking about? it sounds like they were trying to perpetuate a story.”

Jackson also was supposed to get an update on where his mom’s body is located on Aug. 16 but that still hasn’t happened.

“I haven’t heard anything, he said. “I don’t even think the U.S. Embassy got involved, or even received the necessary paperwork until about four days ago.”

USA TODAY reached out to the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, but they did not respond prior to publication.

Remembering Dana Jackson

Although Jackson’s mom had him at a young age, her goal was to work hard to create a better life for them.

In 1999, Jackson said that his mom took a job at a technology company that was based in Savannah, Georgia. In his mom’s role she was to help start the companies operations in the state. During their time in Georgia, Jackson remembers getting his own bathroom. bedroom, attending extracurricular activities and ultimately getting closer to his mom.

Years later he asked his mom why she decided to relocate.

“I asked her, many years later, ‘why did you decide to move down there?’ She said ‘Tim, I needed that time to learn how to become a mother to my son,’” he said.

Another memory that Jackson shared was in 2017 when his family took a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada where the two ended up meeting rapper Nelly. The rapper ended up turning around and talking to the two before he left the hotel, Jackson said.

“In Vegas, we were getting ready to check into our hotel, and Nelly was coming out. My mom looked at me, and I looked at her, and then we just both chased him,” he said. “That was just how in sync we were.”

GoFundMe created for Dana Jackson’s funeral costs

Jackson created a GoFundMe account for his mom’s funeral and additional costs that he will need in the future.

“(The GoFundMe was created for) funeral costs, any costs associated with bringing her body back,” he said. “I would like to do an autopsy. I’ve been quoted a price for that.”

His mom told him how she wanted her funeral to go.

“We had a conversation maybe six years ago where she told me she wanted to be cremated, and she told me what her last wishes were,” he said.

Dana Jackson was supposed to turn 52 on Sept. 13, Jackson said.

“We don’t know what happened in the last nine days, but whatever happened, my mom did not go to Haiti not to come back to the United States,” he said.