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One North Carolina student is taking legal action against his school district after he was suspended and allegedly branded a racist for using the term “illegal alien” in class.
16-year-old Christian McGhee filed suit against the Davidson County School District after he was suspended for three days from Central Davidson High School in Lexington and forced to miss critical track meets.
His mother, Leah McGhee, and his attorney, Dean McGee, joined “Fox & Friends” to discuss the lawsuit and how the community has rallied around the teen following the incident.
“Christian was suspended three days, out of school suspension. He missed several very important track meets, and, since that time, we have removed him from the school,” McGhee told co-host Ainsley Earhardt on Wednesday.
“We have asked the school to handle this privately for weeks. I have emailed the school board for four weeks. I’ve had no response from the school board, and since… we had no resolution, we had no other choice but to file a lawsuit and take this public.”
Christian was suspended last month after he asked his teacher if a conversation in class was centered around “spaceship aliens” or “illegal aliens who need green cards” after he returned to the classroom from the restroom.
McGhee said after Christian asked his teacher the question, a student of Latino descent jokingly said he was going to “kick his you-know-what.” Although class proceeded normally, both students were eventually pulled out of the classroom to address the exchange, she claimed.
16-year-old Christian McGhee was suspended last month for using the term ‘illegal alien’ in class. (‘Fox & Friends’ screengrab)
The Latino student reportedly told the administrator he was not offended by Christian’s comment, and both teens agreed there were no hard feelings, but Christian was suspended for three days and was unable to appeal his punishment anyway.
McGhee said when she initially got the call from the school she was furious, given that she had raised her son in a Christian-based household. Shortly after arriving at the school, however, she said she quickly realized the assistant principal was guilty of “injecting” racism into the incident.
Liberty Justice Center attorney Dean McGee argued the United States government uses the term “illegal alien,” which is clearly defined in Webster’s Dictionary, and has no racial specification.
He argued the school district went against Christian’s right to due process since he was unable to appeal their decision and violated his First Amendment right to freedom of speech.
“There’s no case for racism on its face. It’s a completely neutral term,” McGee said. “I’ve gotten to know this family pretty well, over the last week and a half. And there is not an iota of racism to this boy, to his parents, and it’s an outrageous suspension with serious consequences unless the court fixes this.”
“The government has branded Christian a racist, deprived him of his right to an education for three days, deprived him of his ability to participate in track, and told him there will be no appeals,” he continued. “It’s as clear a due process case as I can imagine.”
McGhee said her son has received countless threats since the incident took place and has been branded “racist boy” by some of his peers.
VideoChristian was pulled out of the school over safety concerns despite the fact he had just moved to the area with his family in August.
“Before people understood what actually took place, Christian was getting threats. Christian was being called a racist,” McGhee said.
“It’s hard enough moving to a new area as a 16-year-old boy, but he loved that school. We loved that school. Now that the truth is being exposed, and we were able to speak at the board meeting, I cannot tell you how overwhelmed we are by the support that we’re receiving from this amazing community that we live in, and also the community of Brunswick County, Oak Island in Southport, North Carolina, where we moved from.”
“We have been overwhelmed. We’ve been receiving messages from all over the country of people standing with Christian and… saying, ‘Reverse this suspension, remove this label of racism,’ that was so unfairly placed on our child,” she continued.
The Davidson County Schools district and Davidson County Board of Education did not return requests for comment from Fox News and Fox News Digital.
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Bailee Hill is an associate editor with Fox News Digital. Story ideas can be sent to bailee.hill@fox.com
