Marquise White, the Maryland teacher who was placed on suspension after being criticized for sharing a viral video showing female students unbraiding his hair, has been retained following a five-day suspension, WUSA9 reported.
As previously reported by Face2Face Africa, White, who is an employee with the Prince George’s County School District, came under scrutiny after the video went viral. He had initially claimed he was attacked because he’s handsome. The incident occurred in May.
“I think the five-day suspension was appropriate,” White told the news outlet. “At the end of the day, I did break a policy and I do take accountability for that,” the science teacher added.
White also said he was given the all-clear to resume work after he was suspended for five days. The school district also told the news outlet that White has not been relieved of his duties. The district, however, did not confirm if White was suspended and stated that it is unable to provide information on confidential personnel issues.
“The investigation is complete and the teacher remains a PGCPS employee,” the district said in a statement. White said the group of female students unbraided his hair ten minutes before the end of a class period. He also said the students could have chosen to either remain in their classrooms or attend a school-wide event.
“I asked them, I said I have an appointment immediately after school and I need help taking my hair out because as soon as I leave here, I’m going straight to get my hair braided. I was like ‘So can y’all help me out’, ‘Yeah Mr. White we got you,’” White recalled.
When WUSA9 asked him if he felt “like what they were doing and what you were doing was okay” at the moment, White replied, “I personally feel like it was okay then.” “Especially in this community that’s our Black culture, hair is really important in Black culture, so I try to have a culturally relevant classroom,” he added.
White was also asked what he had to tell to parents who took issue with the incident. “To the parents that are concerned, I would say I understand the concern,” he said.
“I understand the hypervigilance, especially in today’s world with certain things that have come out about not only teachers, but police officers, people in the church zone, and so forth. There’s a lot of things coming up about people taking advantage of minors, so I understand hypervigilance, but we can’t perpetuate the idea that you know all men are monsters and have a motive.”
White said there were a few things he could have altered about the incident if he could turn back the hands of time. But he said he received support from the parents of the students in the video.
