Student Arrested for Making Clock: Racism Stands Test of Time

By Matthew Bruner on September 19, 2015
Ahmed Being Arrested

Ahmed Mohamed Being Arrested

The 14-year-old aspiring engineer constructed an alarm clock out of a pencil case and brought it in to class to show his teacher. She misconstrued the invention for a makeshift bomb and proceeded to call the police. Ahmed was led out of his school in handcuffs and was interrogated by police.

“I built a clock to impress my teacher but when I showed it to her, she thought it was a threat to her,” Ahmed said. “It was really sad that she took the wrong impression of it.”

Ahmed’s arrest sparked a social media campaign denoted by #IStandWithAhmed and triggered responses from some influential people including Mark Zuckerburg and President Barack Obama, who invited Ahmed to visit the White House. The teenager was eventually released from jail and the charges were dropped.

Ahmed thanked his supporters and told reporters that he is planning on transferring schools.

“I felt pretty down that no one would know about this, but after seeing all the support it made me feel happy,” Ahmed said.

The Irving Police Chief, Larry Boyd, told reporters that the officers were justified in detaining Ahmed based on the information that they received and that they would have treated this case the same had Ahmed been white.

Now as much as the Irving Police Department would like to tip toe around the subject, the racial undertones of this situation are just another reflection of the stagnant racial stereotypes present in this country.

The fact of the matter is that this situation would have certainly been handled differently if Ahmed were any other race. Racial profiling leads people to conclusions that just aren’t there and in Ahmed’s case it had a direct effect on what happened.  America’s culture is diverse so it’s a shame that anyone be singled out in a negative way based on the color of their skin.

When the #IStandWithAhmed campaign started it also opened up discussions on Islam and ethnicity. Many people voiced their outrage with what happened to Ahmed and that certainly is a positive sign, however as a whole the issue seems to remain. Every week there are more and more stories with racial implications. What happened to Ahmed will continue to happen as long as these negative stereotypes are perpetuated through ignorance.

Ahmed has a strong mentality, an admirable trait, and will continue to invent things and build on his education. However it’s not fair that he and so many others have to experience things like this for reasons that are out of their control. The only way to fix this problem is to face it head on with unrelenting poise. People have to coexist and it will certainly take a collaborative effort to eradicate these racial notions that blight our existence.

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