How The Internet Responded When This Teen Was Arrested For Making A Clock
Ahmed Mohamed was wrongly arrested for bringing a homemade clock to school after the teachers thought that the clock was "a hoax bomb" but hundreds of thousands of people around the world have rallied behind him using the hashtag #IstandwithAhmed.
By Tang Ruxyn — 17 Sep 2015, 04:22 PM — Updated about 9 years ago
A 14-year-old in Texas was arrested for bringing a homemade clock to school on grounds that the teachers thought that it was "a hoax bomb"
Ahmed Mohamed — who makes his own radios and repairs his own go-kart — hoped to impress his teachers when he brought a homemade clock to MacArthur High on Monday (14 September).
Instead, the school phoned police about Ahmed’s circuit-stuffed pencil case.
So the 14-year-old missed the student council meeting and took a trip in handcuffs to juvenile detention.
School officials originally thought his clock was a bomb and now are simply calling it a “hoax bomb.”
techcrunch.com
Irving's police chief has announced that charges won’t be filed against Ahmed
At a joint press conference with Irving ISD, Chief Larry Boyd said the device — confiscated by an English teacher despite the teen’s insistence that it was a clock — was “certainly suspicious in nature.”
Boyd said Ahmed was then handcuffed “for his safety and for the safety of the officers” and taken to a juvenile detention center. He was later released to his parents, Boyd said.
“The follow-up investigation revealed the device apparently was a homemade experiment, and there’s no evidence to support the perception he intended to create alarm,” Boyd said, describing the incident as a “naive accident.”
Since news of his arrest broke, Ahmed has received overwhelming support from people around the world on social media under the hashtag #IstandwithAhmed
Social media exploded Wednesday with messages of support for Ahmed Mohamed.
By Wednesday (16 September) morning, the hashtag #IStandWithAhmed was trending on Twitter, as users tweeted in solidarity with the tinkering teen — and expressed outrage over what they believe was a case of anti-Muslim discrimination.
yahoo.com
One of most notable supports came from the President of the United States Barack Obama, who has invited Ahmed to come to the White House
Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It's what makes America great.
— President Obama (@POTUS) September 16, 2015
Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton also tweeted her support, calling on Ahmed to "stay curious and keep building"
Assumptions and fear don't keep us safe—they hold us back. Ahmed, stay curious and keep building. https://t.co/ywrlHUw3g1
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 16, 2015
Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook, wasted no time and sent an invitation for Ahmed to come to Facebook
Many tech companies have been offering Ahmed internships and visits to their offices
Hi @IStandWithAhmed, we building things at @twitter too. Would you consider interning with us? We'd love it — DM us! #IStandWithAhmed
— Twitter (@twitter) September 16, 2015
How do I get in touch with Ahmed? We (@reddit) wanna intro him to some of our friends in science (+ internship?) http://t.co/Bwgnbz179O
— Alexis Ohanian (@alexisohanian) September 16, 2015
Hey Ahmed- we're saving a seat for you at this weekend's Google Science Fair...want to come? Bring your clock! #IStandwithAhmed
— Google Science Fair (@googlescifair) September 16, 2015
After his wrongful arrest, Ahmed has came out to speak to the public saying that he is "very sad" that his clock was seen as a threat, but amazed at what has followed after the incident
"I built a clock to impress my teacher but when I showed it to her she thought it was a threat to her."
bbc.comAhmed said that he was saddened by the initial reaction his invention provoked but amazed at what has followed.
“It made me really happy to see all these people support me,” he said.
The teen said he hasn’t spoken to anyone from MacArthur High, where he was suspended until Thursday (17 September).
Ahmed went through an ordeal that he shouldn't have to in the first place
He recalled showing one teacher the clock and her telling him that she thought it was "nice" but he shouldn't show other instructors, according to the paper. The teen put the clock in his bookbag but an alarm beeped in the middle of sixth period and Ahmed showed the teacher what he had.
"She was like, it looks like a bomb," he said.
"I told her, 'It doesn't look like a bomb to me."
When Ahmed was called out of class, he said he was brought into a room with four police officers, one of whom said, "Yup. That's who I thought it was."
Many people, including Ahmed's father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, has blamed the incident on Islamophobia
It's honestly great to see everyone collectively come together to fight against Islamophobia. #IStandWithAhmed
— Zaid Ali (@Za1d) September 16, 2015
Enough to Islamophobia. #IStandWithAhmed
— lebanese problems (@LebaneseProblem) September 16, 2015
Islamophobia is still very real.
— Hatshepsut (@VaySoFetch) September 16, 2015
Racism is still very real.
#IStandWithAhmed
"He just wants to invent good things for mankind," said Mohamed, who immigrated from Sudan.
"But because his name is Mohamed and because of September 11, I think my son got mistreated."
The school district has issued a memo after the incident but it has been heavily criticised for the victim-blaming content
This memo obfuscates the particulars, giving a veneer of legitimacy to what happened. Rather than responding to a suspicious package on campus, the school responded to a device that Ahmed Mohamed freely presented to his teacher.
Rather than discovering that the device was safe, they ignored Mohamed stating that it was simply a clock. And the memo completely ignores that, in conducting its investigation, the authorities profiled a teenager and effectively pit his school and community against him.
theverge.com