Muslim schoolboy arrested after clock mistaken for bomb
Ahmed Mohamed, 14, was arrested and accused of making a bomb after bringing a homemade clock to his Texas school.
.jpg)
Ahmed Mohamed hoped to impress his teachers when he brought a homemade clock to school, but his work instead landed him in handcuffs and a juvenile detention centre.
Ahmed’s engineering teacher said the clock was “really nice” but suggested that he not show the invention to others at MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas. But the clock beeped during an English class, alerting his English teacher, who then contacted the authorities.
According to The Dallas Morning News, Ahmed was then led by the principal and a police officer to a room where four other police officers waited.
He was later handcuffed and taken to a juvenile detention centre, despite telling police that the device was just a clock. Ahmed is still under investigation and was suspended from school for three days.
Ahmed’s sister told me to post this. Yes this situation is real for those questioning. pic.twitter.com/Oxd0JxUS6O
— Prajwol/Ru (@OfficalPrajwol) September 16, 2015
“She was like, it looks like a bomb,” Ahmed said of the moment when his English teacher saw the clock.
“I told her, ‘It doesn’t look like a bomb to me.'”
The clock was took Ahmed about 20 minutes to build on Sunday. It consisted of a circuit board, power supply, digital display and wires, all strapped inside a small case with a tiger hologram on the front.
Ahmed said that when questioned by police, he felt conscious of his brown skin and his name – one of those most common in the Muslim religion.
“They [the police] were like, ‘So you tried to make a bomb?'” Ahmed told The Dallas Morning News.
“I told them no, I was trying to make a clock.”
“He said, ‘It looks like a movie bomb to me.'”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said it was investigating the incident.
The story sparked a strong reaction online, with Twitter users posting under the hashtag #IStandWithAhmed.
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.
— President Obama (@POTUS) September 16, 2015
As a Texan, I’m honestly ashamed. White men can openly carry guns but brown kids can’t make clocks. Jim Crow in disguise.
#IStandWithAhmed
— Charles Clymer (@cmclymer) September 16, 2015
#IStandWithAhmed because it make me sad we live in a place where we assume danger/evil, because the color of ones skin.
— Philip DeFranco (@PhillyD) September 16, 2015
Terrorism isn’t a child who builds clocks.
Terrorism is persecuting a child of color based on racist stereotypes.
#IStandWithAhmed
— Charles Clymer (@cmclymer) September 16, 2015
Brought my clock to work today. #IStandWithAhmed #Solidarity pic.twitter.com/h4Jr0siF1A
— Simran Jeet Singh (@SimranColumbia) September 16, 2015
Police spokesman James McLellan said that Ahmed never claimed the device was anything but a clock, but police were still suspicious.
“We have no information that he claimed it was a bomb,” McLellan said. “He kept maintaining it was a clock, but there was no broader explanation.”
A letter from high school principal Dan Cummings was posted online and said that police responded to a “suspicious looking item” on campus and that there was an ongoing investigation.
Ahmed has vowed never to take an invention to school again.