Muslim kid arrested, police think homemade clock is a bomb

[emisi]

www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/09/16/ahmed_mohamed_arrested_for_making_clock_in_irving_texas_teenager_s_teachers.html


Texas Teenager Arrested When Teachers, Police Decide His Homemade Clock is a "Hoax Bomb"


By Beth Ethier



A teenager in Irving, Texas was arrested Monday when he brought a homemade clock to class and was accused of building a "hoax bomb," the Dallas Morning News reports.



Ahmed Mohamed, 14, is an avid inventor and built a simple clock to show an engineering teacher at his new high school this week, but the device alarmed his teachers, who apparently alerted police, he told the Morning News:



The teacher kept the clock. When the principal and a police officer pulled Ahmed out of sixth period, he suspected he wouldn't get it back.

They led Ahmed into a room where four other police officers waited. He said an officer he’d never seen before leaned back in his chair and remarked: "Yup. That’s who I thought it was."

Ahmed felt suddenly conscious of his brown skin and his name—one of the most common in the Muslim religion. But the police kept him busy with questions.

The bell rang at least twice, he said, while the officers searched his belongings and questioned his intentions. The principal threatened to expel him if he didn’t make a written statement, he said.

"They were like, 'So you tried to make a bomb?'" Ahmed said.

"I told them no, I was trying to make a clock."

"He said, 'It looks like a movie bomb to me.'"

Ahmed was walked out of his school in handcuffs, taken to a juvenile detention center, and fingerprinted before his parents could pick him up. The police have his homemade clock, which he says is housed in "a box you could get at Target for like, five, 10 dollars, and they were telling me it was a suitcase, a briefcase." As of Tuesday, it seems police have not decided to charge Ahmed for making a clock in a box.



Ahmed's father, longtime Irving resident Mohamed Elhassan Mohamaed, is a native of Sudan and has run for president of that country twice, including this year. He told the Morning News that Ahmed "just wants to invent good things for mankind ... but because his name is Mohamed and because of Sept. 11, I think my son got mistreated." Father and son reportedly plan to meet with the principal and the police chief on Wednesday.



The Dallas chapter of the Council for American-Islamic Relations has taken an interest in the case. "I think this wouldn’t even be a question if his name wasn't Ahmed Mohamed,” said CAIR's Alia Salem, according to ABC affiliate WFAA. "He is an excited kid who is very bright and wants to share it with his teachers."



Unfortunately, at least in the short term, the experience this week seems to have dampened Ahmed's enthusiasm for sharing his inventions, at least at MacArthur High in Irving: "He’s vowed never to take an invention to school again," the Morning News says in closing.

[mrsukyankee]

What complete and utter bollocks. This kid was targeted because of his name and skin tone.

[sushi]

Well, if he didn't want to make a bomb before ...

[josieposy]

I was reading about this earlier this morning. This makes me sad/mad on multiple levels, but that last sentence kills me. I really hope this doesn't totally crush his innovative spirit.

[blink]

Well that is certainly depressing.

[Deleted]

That poor boy was just excited about what he made. That makes me so sad.

[captainobvious]

We all know that if a white kid brought a homemade clock to school no one would be calling it a "hoax bomb."

[Elsa]

Poor kid. He sounds like a really awesome student. That sucks that the teacher immediately thought the worst.

[osulori]

That poor kid. I hate people.

[aurora]

Well, suddenly I understand why we have problems with diversity in engineering...poor eager kids can't try to create something technological without being considered terrorists.

[josieposy]

If they were so concerned, why wasn't the school evacuated?

[debatethis]

Sept 16, 2015 9:31:10 GMT -5 josieposy said:

If they were so concerned, why wasn't the school evacuated?

And why did the teacher keep it?

[AJL]

Dammit, Texas! This makes me angry. This is something my husband would have done at that age and it's something I can see my son doing. The ONLY reason this young man was treated this was was honestly because of his name and the way he looks. He was profiled and arrested. This is bullshit!

[zoegirltx]

Was there no discretionary judgement on the part of any administrator??

I can see/understand questioning it, but it seems like it would be obvious that it was just a clock, no?!?!??

What was he arrested for? Didn't htey have to tell him what they were charging him with & read Miranda? Did they really feel it necessary to handcuff him? (maybe that's SOP??) But for a juvenile just being questioned?

I think this is a great case for a civil suit for unlawful arrest, but I'm no attorney. Can one of ours chime in?

[Michelle]

Bringing my comments here from other post - oops!

Basically, if your name is Ahmed or Mohammed, and you like circuitry, you MUST be interested in bomb building.

They interrogated this kid. Without his parents even being notified that there was a concern.

assholes!

My brother's room was full of circuit boards, batteries and all kinds of "bomb making" (or clock-making, robotics-making, etc.) materials growing up. He has an engineering mind. And a genius IQ. If he would have walked in with the same thing, nothing would have happend. Nor would a white kid in student council named Ethan, Evan or Elliot.





Oh wait - my brother DID grow up to make bombs. He was tasked by the airforce to build bombs while in the service. He would have preferred to be an airplane mechanic.

[heyjude]

I guess the school sent out a sorrynotsorry letter yesterday.

[iammalcolmx]

I have a feeling they would have cuffed and finger printed me as well.

[Deleted]

Fuck.this.noise.
See a kid bring something amazing to school and cart his ass to jail because his name isn't Walter Whitey.

This makes me want to burn shit down.

[Deleted]

The photo of him in handcuffs makes me want to cry. His teachers and administrators are a bunch of assholes.

I love this tweet from Bobak Ferdowsi (NASA systems engineer).

Attachments:

[marriedfilingjoint]

Sept 16, 2015 9:05:16 GMT -5 captainobvious said:

We all know that if a white kid brought a homemade clock to school no one would be calling it a "hoax bomb."

And yet, this is ironic because there seems to be a pattern with kids who shoot up schools, and it doesn't seem to be kids who have dark skin.  FFS these school administrators are dumb.  

[sparrowsong]

I hope he does end up with a great internship or scholarship.

[pixy0stix]

The picture of him makes me want to cry. Poor kid.

[Deleted]

Also. What kind of shitty ass ENGINEERING teacher can't tell the difference between a clock and a bomb?

[WOT?*]

Sept 16, 2015 11:26:39 GMT -5 sparrowsong said:

I hope he does end up with a great internship or scholarship.

Paid by the school district, city and police department. Interrogated without a parent or representation present?

That kid shows a lot of class. More than any of the adults around him. Except maybe his parents.

[orangeblossom]

Every adult in this situation sucks. Every.single.one

[marriedfilingjoint]

Sept 16, 2015 11:30:54 GMT -5 WOT?* said:

Sept 16, 2015 11:26:39 GMT -5 sparrowsong said:

I hope he does end up with a great internship or scholarship.

Paid by the school district, city and police department. Interrogated without a parent or representation present?

That kid shows a lot of class. More than any of the adults around him. Except maybe his parents.

He's so humble and straight-forward in the video.

More from Twitter:




Lawyer up!

[StrawberryBlondie]

This makes me so sad.

[Deleted]

Awww yeah. Pres. Obama just invited him to the White House via Twitter so he can see the clock.

Attachments:

[zoegirltx]

Sept 16, 2015 12:02:40 GMT -5 @ameliapond said:

Awww yeah. Pres. Obama just invited him to the White House via Twitter so he can see the clock.

POTUS for the win!  Well that turned out well

[sparrowsong]

Falling in love with Obama all over again.