Charlotte teacher says he was fired over lessons on race. Trial uncertain.
A federal judge will soon decide whether a Charlotte charter school teacher claiming his civil rights were violated over “book-banning hysteria” will get to argue his case in front of a jury.
Markayle Gray, a Black teacher formerly employed by Charlotte Secondary School, says he was fired because of backlash over his teaching of a novel about a Black student who attends an elite prep school and becomes the victim of racial profiling. The school’s attorney says that’s not the case.
The book in question is called “Dear Martin.” It was challenged or removed from reading lists across the state in 2022. But the head of Charlotte Secondary School — where 80% to 85% of its 240 students are Black, Hispanic or biracial — had recommended students read it.
Gray claims his termination was spurred by complaints over his book discussions and his references to critical race theory, which views history through systemic racism and the idea that institutions have helped white people maintain dominance in society.
The book wasn’t the issue, the school’s lawyer, Katie Hartzog said at a Thursday morning hearing in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. It was the high-school level discussion about economics and race that Gray was trying to have with students who were 11 to 13 years old.
Gray had “clearly gone off-topic” from curriculum standards, Hartzog said, and it wasn’t the first time. Both Black students and parents complained about it, she said.
The hearing came after Hartzog filed a motion saying Gray didn’t have enough evidence to show discrimination. Her motion for summary judgment asked U.S. District Judge Matthew Orso, who was appointed by President Donald Trump last year, to decide the case instead of a jury.
Gray’s attorney, Artur Davis of Birmingham, Alabama, told The Charlotte Observer he looks forward to bringing the case before a jury and maintains that race is at play in Gray’s case.
Davis told Orso that before the head of the school fired Gray, a white teacher had accused the head of giving Gray preferential treatment because he was Black. Davis’ argument is that the head of the school fired Gray because of that pressure.
A jury should be able to decide if the complaint from the white teacher, among other factors, affected the head of school’s decision, Davis said.
“Would a young, progressive white man be terminated for this? No,” Davis said.
Orso is expected to decide within the next few months whether the case will go to trial, as it is scheduled to in August.
