A North Carolina high school student has been suspended from school for saying “illegal alien” in class.
Christian McGhee, a student at Central Davidson High School in Lexington, North Carolina, was suspended for three days after asking a teacher to clarify an assignment, according to Newsweek.
Leah McGhee, Christian’s mother, said the teacher told the students in her English class to use the word “alien” in an assignment, per the Carolina Journal.
That’s when , 16, asked “like space aliens or illegal aliens without green cards?”
According to an email obtained by the Carolina Journal, a classmate took offense to Christian’s question and wanted to fight. The school’s administrators ruled the words were “offensive and disrespectful to classmates who are Hispanic,” per the outlet.
“I didn’t make a statement directed towards anyone; I asked a question,” said Christian. “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.”
Christian’s mother has spoken out about the incident.
“Because of his question, our son was disciplined and given THREE days OUT of school suspension for ‘racism,'” Leah McGhee said in an email, according to the Carolina Journal. “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 also said the family is seeking the guidance of an attorney. She said the family wants to safeguard Christian’s future.
A staff member wrote an email to Newsweek stating, “Please know that Davidson County Schools administrators take all discipline incidents seriously and investigate each one thoroughly. Any violation of the code of conduct is handled appropriately by administrators.”
Many have shown their support for Christian.
