A 16-year-old student at Central Davidson High School in Lexington, North Carolina, faced a three-day suspension last week, the Carolina Journal reported.
The cause? His use of the term ‘illegal alien’ during a vocabulary assignment in English class.
The Carolina Journal has omitted the teenager’s name due to his minor status and in order to safeguard his privacy. Similarly, The Gateway Pundit has also chosen not to disclose the student’s identity.
Leah McGhee, the mother of the student, reported that the vocabulary exercise included the word ‘alien’. Trying to clarify, her son inquired, “Like space aliens or illegal aliens without green cards?”
This question led to a confrontation with another student, escalating to the point where the teacher summoned the assistant principal.
The administrative staff subsequently determined the term used by McGhee’s son as ‘offensive and disrespectful’ towards Hispanic classmates, leading to his suspension.
In his defense, the student stated, “I didn’t make a statement directed towards anyone; I asked a question. 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.”
The Carolina Journal reported that this suspension could potentially tarnish the student’s academic record and jeopardize his aspirations for an athletic scholarship. Besides being a diligent student, he is also a committed athlete, participating in school clubs, track, and cross country.
Leah McGhee wrote in an email to local officials, “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.”
Despite attempts to rectify the situation, the assistant principal has not agreed to remove the infraction from the student’s record.
The family has engaged an attorney to address the issue in hopes of preventing any long-term negative impact on the student’s future.
State Senator Steve Jarvis has reached out to the school district’s superintendent regarding the matter, emphasizing the need for a fair resolution while acknowledging his limited understanding of the incident’s specifics.
Elon Musk has weighed in, labeling the incident as “absurd.”
Central Davidson High School’s principal, Heather Horton, told The Gateway Pundit, “We cannot discuss a specific student or their actions due to federal student privacy protections. 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.”
Back in 2021, Joe Biden proposed some changes to immigration policy. His initiatives aimed to create an eight-year pathway to citizenship for approximately 11 million individuals residing in the U.S. without legal status, along with removing the term ‘alien’ from legal terminology, which he described as “dehumanizing.”
I’m pretty sure the term “illegal alien” has been used as the official term for the U.S. Government for a very long time.
That didn’t stop Biden from trying to ban it in 2021.
Regardless, free speech means being able to use any term one wants.
Being suspended for it is absurd. pic.twitter.com/fSlM00juC6
— Paul A. Szypula (@Bubblebathgirl) April 16, 2024
