The only problem with regulating speech in America is that you can’t actually do that, as this is a free country. Nonetheless, one school district thought it had the power to regulate and force students into politically correct, compelled speech. However, they thought wrong.

A high school student who was suspended for using the words “illegal alien” will be getting a public apology from the Board of Education and $20,000 after the district overstepped its boundaries.

According to The Carolina Journal

The 16-year-old high school student who was suspended in North Carolina last year for using the words “illegal alien” in English class is set to receive a public apology from the Davidson County Board of Education for mischaracterizing the student in a racially biased manner.

The problem with calling “illegal alien” a racial slur is that being an illegal alien isn’t a race.

The school claimed the term was offensive to Hispanic students, even though most of them are probably here legally. That says more about the school’s assumptions than anything else. And the fact that they pursued an innocent student over it is deeply disturbing.

A federal lawsuit challenging his suspension under the First Amendment was filed last year, resulting in a year-long legal battle between the Davidson County school board and Christian McGhee’s family. But now, according to court documents filed Friday, a settlement has been reached and is pending a judge’s approval.

As part of the proposed settlement, the school board will remove all references to racial bias in the teen’s school record, offer a public apology from the board for mischaracterizing him in a racially biased way in his school records, and provide $20,000 in compensation. The monetary compensation is intended to help with the costs of the new private school Christian transferred to following the incident.

As Carolina Journal previously reported, when McGhee used the words “illegal alien” during a vocabulary lesson in April 2024, administrators deemed it offensive and disrespectful to Hispanic classmates. He was issued a three-day suspension for “making a racially insensitive remark that caused a class disturbance.”

According to The Free Speech Center, “The compelled speech doctrine sets out the principle that the government cannot force an individual or group to support certain expressions. Thus, the First Amendment not only limits the government from punishing a person for his speech, it also prevents the government from punishing a person for refusing to articulate, advocate, or adhere to the government’s approved messages.”

This means the school not only has no right to restrict him from using politically incorrect words, but they also cannot force him to use any expression. A simple Google search could have told them that, but they were too lazy, as all energy was spent on their pathetic power trip. Still, that mistake led to national embarrassment and a public apology—so hopefully they’ve finally learned their lesson.

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