A 16-year-old North Carolina high school student says he was suspended just for saying “illegal alien” while discussing word meaning in English class — possibly ruining his chances of landing a college sports scholarship.
Christian McGhee, a student at Central Davidson High School in Lexington, received a three-day suspension last week after he used the term in English class, the Carolina Journal reported.
His mother, Leah McGhee, said his teacher had given an assignment that used the word “alien,” and Christian asked: “Like space aliens or illegal aliens without green cards?”
Another student reportedly took offense and threatened to fight Christian, so the teacher took the matter to the assistant principal, according to the Carolina Journal.
Eventually, his words were determined to be offensive and disrespectful to Hispanic classmates, so he was suspended.
“I didn’t make a statement directed towards anyone — I asked a question,” Christian told the outlet.
“I wasn’t speaking of Hispanics because everyone from other countries needs green cards, and the term ‘illegal alien’ is an actual term that I hear on the news and can find in the dictionary,” he added.
The suspension may also affect the student-athlete’s prospects of securing a college sports scholarship, the Journal noted.
“Because of his question, our son was disciplined and given THREE days OUT of school suspension for ‘racism,’” Leah wrote in an email describing the incident.
“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.
The irate mom said the assistant principal has refused to remove the suspension from the boy’s record, so the family has hired an attorney.
On Tuesday, Leah appeared on “The Pete Kaliner Show,” which airs on radio station WBT, and said her family had once lived in England, and Christian mentioned how Britons also need green cards to live in the US, Newsweek reported.
She said she and her husband told the assistant principal that “illegal alien” is a term their son can look up in a dictionary.
“It is a term used as federal code, and it is a term that is heard frequently on many news broadcasts,” Leah said on the show. “I feel that if this was handled properly in the classroom, it could have easily been used as a teachable moment for everyone.”
Republican state Sen. Steve Jarvis said he has contacted the school district superintendent about the matter — but he has not yet taken a stance on what should be done.
“I do not see that that would be an offensive statement, just in getting clarification,” Jarvis told the Journal. “But there again, I don’t know. I don’t know the situation of this particular incident.”
The popular X account Libs of TikTok also weighed in by saying Christian’s record could be “damaged” by the brouhaha over political correctness.
“Please support this based student by helping to raise awareness to his story!” the conservative account wrote in the post, which has received more than 4 million views.
Among those to respond was X owner Elon Musk, who wrote: “This is absurd.”
Conservative personality Ian Miles Chong called it “insane.”
“How does one get suspended for using the term illegal alien?” he asked.
Libs of TikTok added: “Hopefully North Carolina officials can step in and ensure his record isn’t tarnished in any way because he’s trying to secure an athletic scholarship for college.
“He should not be persecuted for using the correct term just because the left is trying to change our entire language,” the account added.
A staffer at Central Davidson High School told Newsweek that they could not comment about a specific student due to federal protections.
“Please know that Davidson County Schools administrators take all discipline incidents seriously and investigate each one thoroughly,” the rep told the mag. “Any violation of the code of conduct is handled appropriately by administrators.”
The student handbook says that “schools may place restrictions on a student’s right to free speech when the speech is obscene, abusive, promoting illegal drug use, or is reasonably expected to cause a substantial disruption to the school day,” the Carolina Journal reported.
