14-year-old, Ahmed Mohamed, has been arrested, suspended, and humiliated amongst his peers at MacArthur High School all for making a clock. A clock that his teachers, principal, and police thought was a homemade bomb.
The treatment of Ahmed raises questions. Why was he still arrested when no evidence showed that his creation was a bomb? Why was he suspended when no evidence showed that he made a bomb? Why hasn’t he been reinstated back into high school once there was no evidence stating he made a bomb? Why hasn’t the school issued an apology to Ahmed and his family for the public humiliation and wrongful arrest and suspension that they have dragged this family through? It’s simply because he’s Muslim. The police want to find something to pin a make-believe bomb on him. The school wants to find something to make this imaginary bomb they thought of appear.
It’s sad that right after the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks just passed, people are still referring to Muslims as ‘terrorists’. Not all Muslims are terrorists just as not all blacks are ‘thugs’. Ahmed told his teachers he made a clock. A clock that took him about 20 minutes to put together. A clock that he hoped his teachers would be proud that he made. A clock that he couldn’t wait to show everyone at school. Instead, his invention that he was so proud of, got him interrogated by police and placed in handcuffs.
The school issued a letter to parents of children at MacArthur High stating that “the item discovered at school did not pose a threat to your child’s safety”. So why is Ahmed still suspended? I don’t understand how a letter can be sent to other kids’ parents of the school guaranteeing their safety and no apology issued to the family you racially profiled.
We have to do better as a country. Racial tension in America is so high right now. It seems like being a minority in this country in 2015 is a crime in itself. I’m sure Ahmed and his family are taking the legal steps necessary to insure that MacArthur High won’t do this to another minority again. The country is standing with Ahmed.