A Black teacher who is currently being investigated by his school for allowing his students to unbraid his hair recently spoke out about the accusations leveled at him.
The investigation stems from a livestream Marquis White, a middle school science teacher in Maryland, posted to his TikTok account showing between four and five middle school girls unbraiding and detangling his hair.
He clarified in another TikTok video, which showed a clip of the unbraiding session, that he recruited the students to help him at the end of class in preparation for a hair appointment.
Some users blasted White’s conduct as inappropriate, calling the hair session “perverse” and saying it crossed boundaries. Others thought it was wholesome.
“If I was a female teacher, those people wouldn’t be in the comments,” White said. “To me, it’s literally just hair. It doesn’t have to be weird.”
The video, which drew more than eight million views, is now the center of a probe.
According to WUSA9 News, White has been “reassigned out of the classroom pending the outcome of the investigation,” per a statement from Prince George’s County Public Schools.
In a recent video, White addressed the comments impugning his character and professional conduct. He stitched another TikTok showing young female students bedazzling their white male teacher’s head and drew comparisons, asking why that teacher isn’t being “publicly executed” like him.
“I firmly believe that I was attacked, mainly attacked by my own community, because I’m a young, handsome, Black man,” White said, adding that people who thought the video he posted was suggestive were projecting their thoughts and ideologies onto him and his students.
He also asserted that if he was white or female, he wouldn’t have faced such intense criticism.
While some commenters continued expressing support for White, others still believed he was in the wrong.
“As a principal, you both crossed a professional boundary. Take accountability and make better choices,” one viewer wrote.
