In an age of hypersensitivity, people are prone to misidentify a Muslim for a terrorist, a hairdryer for a gun or a clock for a bomb. That is at least the case at Irving ISD, after school officials arrested a student for bringing a homemade clock to school under the suspicion that it was a bomb.
An intelligent 14-year-old student named Ahmed Mohamed, who spent his spare time participating in a robotics club in middle school and dabbles in building radios at home, brought a homemade alarm clock to his new high school in an effort to impress his teacher.(1)
The alarm clock was hardly impressive by Ahmed’s standards, stating that it took him 20 minutes to build before going to bed the previous night. It consisted of circuit board hooked up to a digital display, which was strapped inside a plastic case purchased at Target.(2)
An unexpected reaction
Upon presenting the device to his teacher, the response wasn’t what Ahmed expected. According to Ahmed, the teacher was hesitant, stating that the device was nice, but advised him to not show it to any of his other teachers.
Ahmed followed his teachers advice; he tucked the alarm clock away in his backpack. A teacher complained about the alarm clock after it made a beeping noise inside his bag. After Ahmed presented the device to his teacher, she said, “It looks like a bomb,” to which Ahmed responded, “It doesn’t look like a bomb to me.”(2)
The teacher kept the clock. The situation rapidly escalated during sixth period, when the principle and a police officer pulled Ahmed from class. He was then escorted to a room to be interrogated by four other police officers. Upon seeing Ahmed, one of the police officers remarked, “Yup. That’s who I thought it was.”(2)
Ahmed noted that the alarm clock was just that, an alarm clock, during the interrogation. Nevertheless, the police officers insisted that the device at the very least looked like a “movie bomb.” They then searched Ahmed’s belongings and questioned his intentions.(2)
Police unjustly arrest student
That was just the tip of the iceberg. The police officers handcuffed Ahmed and escorted him out of the school close to around 3:00 PM, despite having no evidence that the alarm clock was a bomb, or was even intended to resemble a bomb.(2)
Ahmed was fortunately not thrown into a jail cell. He was released from a juvenile detention center to meet his parents after his finger prints were taken.(2)
To add insult to injury, Ahmed was suspended for three days from school. In addition, the principle threatened to expel Ahmed if he did not make a written statement. Ahmed’s clock now sits somewhere inside an evidence room, although its undefined what the alarm clock is actually evidence for. Ahmed has vowed to never bring one of his inventions to school again.(2)
Ahmed’s story spread like wildfire on social media, generating support throughout cyberspace. The incident event warranted a response from Hillary Clinton who tweeted, “Assumptions and fear don’t keep us safe — they hold us back. Ahmed, stay curious and keep building.”(2)
Public schools are supposed to be the grounds that plant the seeds of innovation. If you’re an innovator who doesn’t bear the image of Benjamin Franklin, however, you might just be out of luck at Irving ISD.
Rather than serve as evidence for student misconduct, Ahmed’s alarm clock serves as evidence for the bigotry of Irving school officials and police.
Sources include:
(2) DallasNews.com
