Enrage after a Muslim Teenage school was arrested for bringing a homemade clock
The 14 year old Texan schoolboy Ahmed Mohamed was arrested for bringing a home made clock into school on 16th September 2015, by Texas police. Later they have decided not to charge a 14-year-old Muslim boy.
Officials at MacArthur High School in Irving alerted police because they thought the device was a “hoax bomb”. Ahmed Mohamed’s arrest received a flood of support across the social media worldwide. Questlove, drummer for the roots and several other have voiced their solidarity with Mohammed online. The boy has since received an invitation to the White House. “We should uplift more boys/girls like Ahmed!” tweeted Janelle Monae, soul singer-songwriter after sharing a link to US President Barak Obama’s tweet inviting Mohammed. “Brilliant minds! Embrace the things that make you unique even if it makes others uncomfortable.”
Ahmed told reporters it was “very sad” that his teacher thought his clock was a threat.
Mohamed was suspended from his school for three days after both his English Teacher and school principal mistakenly believed a clock Mohamed built and brought into school was a bomb.
“I built a clock to impress my teacher but when I showed it to her she thought it was a threat to her. I’m very sad that she got the wrong impression of it.”
At the same news conference on Wednesday afternoon, Ahmed announced he plans to transfer schools.
Ahmed’s father Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, who is originally from Sudan, praised his son’s ingenuity, saying he fixes everything around the house, including his father’s phone and computer.
“He’s a very smart, brilliant boy and he said he just wanted to show himself to the world,” he said.
The police have rejected the claim made by Ahmed’s family that he was detained because of his name.
“We have always had an outstanding relationship with the Muslim community,” Irving Police Department chief Larry Boyd said on Wednesday. “Incidents like this present challenges. We want to learn how we can move forward and turn this into a positive”.
“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,” Mr Obama wrote on Twitter.
The teenager said another teacher became aware of it when the device beeped during the lesson.
“She was like – it looks like a bomb,” he said.
The homemade clock consisted of a circuit board with wires leading to a digital display. So the boy was pulled out of class, interviewed by senior teachers and four police officers, and put into juvenile detention.