A Black Wisconsin security guard fired when a student called him the N-word has been reinstated, the man announced on Facebook.
Marlon Anderson was fired on Oct. 16 from Madison West High School, in the Madison Metropolitan School District, after he said a Black student called him the racial slur.
“Short story…. I get called a bit@# @ss Ni€€A by a student, I responded do ‘not call me ni€€a!’ And I got fired,” Anderson said on social media. “MMSD I, unfortunately, expected better.”
News of the termination went viral and prompted more than 16,800 people to sign a Change.org petition to get Anderson reinstated.
That reportedly is in the process of happening.
Anderson said in a Facebook post Monday that Superintendent Jane Belmore rescinded her decision to terminate him.
“I will be placed on paid administrative leave and my transition plan is being negotiated,” Anderson said in the post.
When he was fired, Anderson started working at the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County, where he said CEO Michael Johnson, a Black man, offered him an interim position.
“I will continue to work at the Club until we negotiate my return back to the district,” Anderson said on Facebook.
He also used the social media platform to thank the 1,000-plus students and larger web community who protested his termination, spoke out for him and reached out to his family.
He thanked his union representative, the local school board president, his son and colleagues at West High, among others.
“You are amazing people,” Anderson said.
“I have cried so much watching you guys on social media my head lost weight.”
He had earlier told students on Friday, “I am overwhelmed by the love when I get back I will personally walk everybody to class ON TIME!”
