(Tampa Free Press)—The Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit against the Davidson County Board of Education on behalf of Christian McGhee, a sixteen-year-old student whose concern regarding the phrase “aliens” in English class resulted in harsh punishment and bogus claims of racism from his own school.
The lawsuit follows a heated school board meeting Monday.
Several speakers, including the student’s mother, denounced the school board Monday for the situation and its treatment of the teenager.
The student’s mother claimed that her son could not be viewed as a racist because “alien” is not a race.
She also noted that two school board members, instead of responding to her pleas for help, dug up her 14-year-old arrest record and posted that on social media and at Central Davidson High School. She admitted that she was arrested and served four years for illegal possession of prescription drugs.
But she added that after her release, she became a recognized anti-addiction advocate who has spoken on the issue to groups more than 30 times in multiple states.
She called for the two board members to be removed.
Another speaker ripped the board for that move against the student’s mother. “You have to stand on stilts to look at a snake in the eye,” he said. “What in the world is wrong with you?”
One speaker who said he and his wife fought the Biden administration about her being classified as an illegal alien. The term “illegal alien” was used repeatedly in countless government documents pertaining to immigration, he said.
He called it “unbelievable” that the student would be reprimanded for using a term that the federal government itself uses. “You’re teaching our children it’s not about facts and the rule of law at the federal, state or local level. It’s about how somebody feels,” he added.
More than one resident demanded that the school board apologize to the student.
Another resident, Alan Mashburn, added that the student did not have the intent to insult anyone. He suggested the student’s question would have been permissible if he had identified as a green-card holder.
“Our country is being invaded. It’s not about race,” Mashburn added.
Christian McGhee, a 16-year-old student at Central Davidson High School in Lexington, North Carolina, earned a three-day stay at home because he sought clarity in an assignment in his English class.
The teacher reportedly assigned the class vocabulary words last week that included the word “alien.”
The student’s mother, Leah McGhee, said, “Like space aliens or illegal aliens without green cards?”
Another male student in the class “took offense to his question and reportedly threatened to fight him, prompting the teacher to call in the assistant principal. Ultimately, his words were deemed by administrative staff to be offensive and disrespectful to classmates who are Hispanic.”
“School officials have effectively fabricated a racial incident out of thin air and branded our client as a racist without even giving him an opportunity to appeal. Fortunately, young people do not shed their First Amendment rights at school, and we look forward to vindicating Christian’s rights here.” said Dean McGee, Educational Freedom Attorney at the Liberty Justice Center.
“I have raised our son to reject racism in all its forms, but it is the school, not Christian, that injected race into this incident. It appears that this administration would rather destroy its own reputation and the reputation of my son rather than admit they made a mistake,” said Leah McGhee, Christian’s mother.