NC school board member went to Trump event but says she didn’t riot. Is it a violation?
Last Wednesday, Sherry-Lynn Womack traveled by bus to Washington, D.C., where she watched President Donald Trump’s speech on the National Mall.
It was cold, she said, and there weren’t any food trucks around. And even though she enjoyed Trump’s speech, the crowds were too thick to hear much. She heard that some of the crowd had gone to “storm the Capitol,” and she didn’t follow.
But while there, Womack spoke to a reporter for the USA Today, and she identified herself as a member of the Lee County School Board in Sanford.
“I’m not one of those conspiracy theorists,” she said, citing what she called suspicious videos from Georgia. “But these are legitimate questions that need to be asked.”
Less than a week later, on Tuesday night, the Lee County board voted 5-2 to have its attorney investigate whether Womack violated policy.
The vote came after an hour of Superintendent Andy Bryan reading a long string of public comments, nearly all of them negative, many from students calling for Womack’s resignation.
‘She aligns herself with a dangerous group’
More than 50 people condemned her participation, criticizing her for joining Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud, for aligning herself with racist protesters and for standing among thousands without a mask.
Though she did not join the protest at the Capitol or insurrectionist mob that broke its way inside, stole government property and attacked a police officer, commenters said she remains culpable.
“Ms. Womack would not recognize the truth if it were flying alongside the Confederate flag that was carried through the Capitol,” said Linda Rhodes in comments the superintendent read aloud. “Her motives have no place in the truth. She aligns herself with a dangerous group that incited violence, killed a Capitol police officer and terrorized members.”
Womack’s actions raise the question of whether everyone participating in a mass protest is responsible when part of the crowd gets out of hand.
Protests in downtown Raleigh following George Floyd’s death last year began as peaceful affairs but finished with widespread vandalism, tear gas and rubber bullets.
Though organizers did not invite the violence and some participants said it began with taunts from the police, critics as prominent as N.C. Rep. Larry Pittman of Cabarrus County, painted all the Black Lives Matter protesters in Raleigh as “ignorant thugs” and “vermin.”
‘I was just exercising my First Amendment rights’
Womack was one of the two votes against the board’s investigation, saying, “absolutely not.” Reached by the N&O Thursday, she said, “For me, personally, I was just exercising my First Amendment rights.”
She called it “highly unusual” for a board meeting to include so many “personal attacks.” She said since so many of the speakers were students from the same high school, Lee Senior, “I’m not certain that was not a coordinated effort.”
But the issue got stickier than free speech for many critics because Womack spoke to the national media as a Lee County representative. She told the N&O Wednesday that she first identified herself as a retired veteran, then clarified she serves on school board.
“I agree she has the right to free speech,” said Sandi Shover, a longtime Lee County English teacher and head of the local National Education Association. “Where my concern comes in is that, first of all, she felt she needed to identify herself as a Board of Education member when this is not an education issue. In that capacity, she is questioning the legitimacy of an election process, which is the process that put her into that position.”
Shover, whom the N&O has quoted at rallies in past articles, said she tries to stick to education-related issues when she speaks out. She said she considers it important that her opinions rely on data.
“I’ve got to be accountable for what I say,” she said Wednesday. “I support her First Amendment rights because I want my own First Amendment rights supported. But I know there is a professional line and it may be up to the board attorney if that line was crossed.”
‘Will she be ordering snake oil’
Two people wrote the board in support of Womack, portraying her as crucified.
“No one deserves to be slandered for an outside event,” said Cindy McGee, in comments read by the superintendent. “Are you for teaching American history? She lived it and did nothing wrong.”
But others said she takes on the nature of the protest by attending, and by publicly tying herself to Lee County, makes it a participant.
“What other ridiculous lies might Ms. Womack believe while charged with the responsibility of our children’s education?” asked Catherine Hampson, in comments read by the superintendent. “Will she be ordering snake oil for distribution?”
Last week’s protest is not Womack’s first foray into Trump events.
In July, she cheered on the president’s visit to a pharmaceutical company in Research Triangle Park, where a COVID-19 vaccine was being manufactured. She stood among hundreds of supporters, dressed in a tri-colored skirt and red cowboy hat, waving a Trump flag. Neither she nor most in attendance wore masks.
Throughout the rioting at the Capitol last week, Womack said she was a mile and a half away.
But her words followed her to Sanford, where they are getting a closer look.
This story was originally published January 13, 2021 at 3:52 PM.