Strange Story of Ahmed : From School to Prison to White House

A 14-year old boy in Texas, US was arrested by the police on charges of making a bomb and taking it to his school. This brown-skinned boy – Ahmed Mohamed – had actually made a cock at home and took it to his teachers to impress them.

Ahmed’s passion lies in Robotics and Engineering. On Sunday night, he assembled a homemade clock at home using a circuit board, a power supply and a digital display. On Monday, he took it to his school in a case with tiger hologram – looking for some praise and appreciation from his teachers. Imagine his shock when he was pulled out of the class, handcuffed and taken in juvenile detention and was interrogated by police officers!

Here’s the complete story:

• The Teachers: Ahmed studies in the ninth grade in MacArthur High School in Irving. He first showed his ‘clock’ to his engineering teacher who advised him not to show it to other staff members. However, it beeped in English class and Ahmed had to show the device to the English teacher who took it from him.
• The Police: In the sixth class, the school principal came for Ahmed with a police officer who arrested him and marched him out of school. He was interrogated by five officers who wanted to know why he made a bomb! The Principal even threatened to expel him from the school unless he gave a statement in writing. It is believed that the Irving Police might still charge Ahmed for making a ‘hoax bomb’.
• Prejudice against Muslims: Ahmed’s father – Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed – says that his child became the victim of prejudice against Muslims. He thinks that if Ahmed had not been a Muslim, he would not have been mistreated. Ahmed was fingerprinted before being allowed to return home and has been suspended from school for three days.
• Tech Community and Social Media: Thankfully, the tech community quickly rallied around Ahmed. #IStandWithAhmed became one of the most trending topics of Twitter and support came pouring in from Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Mark Zuckerberg and Google who all praise him for his good work and invited him to meet them.

A JPL engineer invited Ahmed to see a Mars rover first-hand too.

For once, social media proved that it has emerged as a force to fight injustice and prejudices.