A 16-year-old North Carolina student has sued his high school for suspending him after he used the term “illegal aliens” in a question about an assignment.
Christian McGhee, who received a three-day suspension for using the phrase last month at Central Davidson High School in Lexington, has accused the school of violating his First Amendment rights in the lawsuit filed in federal court Tuesday.
“Aside from the obvious fact that his words had nothing to do with race, his speech was protected under the First Amendment: he asked his teacher a question that was factual and nonthreatening, and officials could not have reasonably forecast that his question would cause substantial School disruption,” the suit said.
“Nor did his question actually cause substantial School disruption.”
According to the lawsuit, the incident occurred on April 9 when a teacher gave Christian an assignment that used the word “alien,” and he asked, “Like space aliens or illegal aliens without green cards?”
A Hispanic student in Christian’s class reportedly “joked” that he was going to “kick Christian’s a–,” so the teacher took the matter to the assistant principal, per the suit.
Eventually, his words were deemed to be offensive and disrespectful to his classmates, so he was suspended.
“The School punished C.M. for his question with three days out-of-school suspension — a punishment described by the administration as ‘harsh,’” the suit states. “In issuing that punishment for his comment, the School baldly concluded that C.M.’s question was ‘racially insensitive’ and a ‘racially motivated comment which disrupts class.’”
According to the complaint, the school had no legal justification for harshly punishingthe student.
The teen’s mother, Leah McGhee, said the lawsuit was filed against the North Carolina school because it indirectly accused her son of being a racist, and she doesn’t want that to affect his chances of being accepted into colleges.
“This label that was so unfairly placed on his record is going to hinder him,” she told NewsNation.
The suspension may also affect the student-athlete’s prospects of securing a college sports scholarship, the Carolina Journal reported
“Because of his question, our son was disciplined and given THREE days OUT of school suspension for ‘racism,’” McGhee wrote in an email describing the incident.
The suspension may also affect the student-athlete’s prospects of securing a college sports scholarship, the Carolina Journal reported
Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.
Please provide a valid email address.
By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use
and Privacy Policy.
Never miss a story.
“He is devastated and concerned that the racism label on his school record will harm his future goal of receiving a track scholarship. We are concerned that he will fall behind in his classes due to being absent for three consecutive days,” she added in the message, which was shared with the outlet.
McGhee said she hired an attorney because the assistant principal refused to remove the suspension from her son’s record.
The popular X account Libs of TikTok weighed in on the issue by saying Christian’s record could be “damaged” by the brouhaha over political correctness.