Ahmed Mohamed, a 14 year old boy from a high school in Texas is the source of the current number one trend on Twitter now #IStandWithAhmed due to an incident that was reported by the Dallas Morning News
Apparently, the 9th grader was an ardent fan of robotics when he was in middle school and was trying to pursue his passion in high school. To impress his teacher, he had built a clock at home and took it to school and the events that followed are what sparked an outrage online
When he showed his contraption to his teacher, the teacher allegedly advised him not to show it to any other teacher and went ahead to keep it. Ahmed was later on pulled out of class by a police officer and his principal who led him to a room where he was interrogated by other police officers.
The police apparently did not believe his claims that it was just a simple homemade clock. To make it worse, it was stored in his pencil case which had also other circuits which made it more suspicious. The questions that were asked like “So you tried to make a bomb” and Ahmed replied by saying he was trying to make a clock and the police officer went ahead to say “It looks like a movie bomb to me“. He has been since suspended by the principal and was arrested which is shown by this tweet by an activist:
I expect they will have more to say tomorrow, but Ahmed's sister asked me to share this photo. A NASA shirt! pic.twitter.com/nR4gt992gB
— anildash.com (@anildash) September 16, 2015
The most striking factor about the photo posted is how Ahmed was arrested while wearing a NASA t-shirt, which as we know is heavily involved with engineering and it could be his dream to work for them in the future. In light of this arrest, people on Twitter voiced their opinion on the matter where they highlighted stereotyping and double standards. These are some of the tweets posted by different people including famous people:
Bomb on my wrist #IStandWithAhmed pic.twitter.com/KK9z1Zii8I
— n[0}body, Security Minion (@curtisko) September 16, 2015
Assumptions and fear don't keep us safe—they hold us back. Ahmed, stay curious and keep building. https://t.co/ywrlHUw3g1
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 16, 2015
Enough is enough. It's time to take a stand against Islamophobia and racial stereotypes. #IStandWithAhmed
— Nina Alame (@NinaAlame) September 16, 2015
Bomb squad wasn't called. The Kids weren't sent into lockdown. They didn't think it was a bomb, they thought he was Muslim. #IStandWithAhmed
— Racialicious (@racialicious) September 16, 2015
https://twitter.com/wildfirehansol/status/644177921096183808
Yo @baluchx imma just leave this here. #IStandWithAhmed pic.twitter.com/qAydhSmWng
— Rektifier (@KamikazeCoyote) September 16, 2015
White kids walk in public with weapons, brown kids are arrested for building clocks.#IStandWithAhmed http://t.co/AmfwkqtvQ0
— Indian Stats v2 (@Indian_stats) September 16, 2015
There is also a selfie of Ahmed and an attorney who wants to represent him
About to meet with attorney and stand for his rights. #IStandWithAhmed pic.twitter.com/XSHavKRkCO
— Alia Salem (@aliarsalem) September 16, 2015
This is another case of social media being used positively and you can be sure that Ahmed’s story will be seen as how justice was sought on social media to squash a stereotype.
