Ahmed Mohamed, a 14-year old in Texas, made headlines when
he brought a homemade clock to school as an engineering project. However, his
celebrity was not a result of his technological innovation, but rather from the
response of the school officials, who thought the project looked suspicious. In
what has been labeled as a blatant exemplification of the growing Islamophobia
in America, the Texas school responded by suspending, handcuffing, and interrogating
the student for bringing in, what they thought was, a bomb.
Within 24 hours of the detainment, Mohamed’s story was
dominating the web with the hashtag #IStandWithAhmed leading the way. His story
caught the attention of Facebook, Twitter, and Google; these major innovative
IT companies were reaching out to Ahmed with words of support and praise. By
the time President Obama extended an invitation to the White House, the charges
had been dropped and Ahmed had switched school districts.
With the help of national outcry and trending hashtags and
photos, Ahmed went from “I felt like a terrorist” to “It feels outstanding to
have their [Obama, Clinton, Zuckerberg] support.” The 14-year old inventor
attended the Google Science Fair last week on a personal invitation from the
CEO, Larry Page, according to Daily Mail.
Tweets from the President? Invitations from major IT heads? Nationwide
social media campaigns in your name? What a great end to the story! What a
feel-good tale about a boy who felt the sharp hands of prejudice only to then
reap the fruits of reparations! What a tale of reconciliation and rectified
wrongs! Right?
The issue with this framing of the story is that it neglects
the systemic issues that the original story, that Mohamed was suspended,
arrested, and interrogated without cause, highlighted. Sure, we can celebrate
the stream of support coming in for Ahmed, but let’s not forget that the issues
of Islamophobia and the misuse of police authority are still affecting millions
of Americans every day.
Islamophobia spiked in America in response to the 9/11
attacks in 2001. Since then, there have been fluctuations of Islamophobia in
our nation, according to a Pew study. Today, in 2015, we would like to think
that the majority of Americans now understand that the 9/11 attacks were
conducted by radical Muslims who make up a very small portion of the religious
group and the majority of Muslims pose no threat to America. However, here we
are, in 2015, with a 14-year old boy in handcuffs and a presidential candidate,
Ben Carson, insisting that a Muslim could not effectively act as our president
on Meet the Press. Shockingly, a Pew
Research Study revealed that about 45% of Americans would be unlikely to vote
for a candidate if he/she were Muslim. We’ve come a long way from 2001 but we
have much further to go and it will take more than a #IStandWithAhmed to change
that.
Meanwhile, the use and abuse of police authority in this
case is one that is all too familiar with our society. It seems like every day
new videos and reports of police brutality are surfacing, making it harder and
harder for the public to trust that there are still honorable, good cops out
there. But we know that there are. The sad fact of it is, the process of the
law did not occur in the case of Ahmed; he was arrested prematurely, denied
access to his parents, and questioned without an attorney. According to CNN,
juveniles in Texas may have a parent, guardian, or attorney present during
interrogation; however, Mohamed was repeatedly denied this request. This case,
therefore, was about more than racism and religious intolerance; this was a
case of denying civil liberties.
In this case, the stripping of civil liberties did not
result in lost life or sacrificed freedoms; but when policemen are denying
personal liberties without consequence and school officials acting on their
racial intolerance, we will see cases with less optimistic endings. I’m elated
to see the support flooding Ahmed and his family, but a tweet from Obama does
not correct this violation, especially when it is one of millions.
