A North Carolina high school student was suspended after using the term "illegal alien" while in a class discussion.
The 16-year-old student was suspended by Central Davidson High School in Lexington, North Carolina, after asking a question that included the term "illegal alien" while doing a vocabulary assignment for English class, The Carolina Journal reported.
According to the student's mother, the student was assigned vocabulary words, which included the word "alien," and the teenager asked the teacher, "Like space aliens or illegal aliens without green cards?"
Another student was offended and allegedly threatened to fight the student, which caused the teacher to call the assistant principal, resulting in the teenager's words being deemed offensive to Hispanic classmates.
"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 student said.
"Because of his question, our son was disciplined and given THREE days OUT of school suspension for 'racism.' 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" the student's mother, Leah McGhee, wrote in an email to local officials.
The assistant principal has refused to remove the suspension from the student's record, but the family is reportedly working with an attorney to make sure it does not harm his future.
