How Would Ahmed Mohamed Have Been Treated If He Was of a Different Nationality?

John Torosian

10/16/15

HCOM213-05

How Would Ahmed Mohamed Have Been

Treated If He Was of a Different Nationality?

        On September 14, 2015, in Irving, Texas, Ahmed Mohamed brought a homemade clock to school to show his teacher. Ahmed had made the digital clock from a pencil case and had intended to impress his teacher with it. Instead of being impressed the teacher saw the clock as a threat and called the authorities. The school called the police who arrested Ahmed and put him in handcuffs. The teacher had thought that his clock was a bomb and Ahmed was later told by the police that he was arrested for bringing a hoax bomb to school. He was held by the police for over an hour and a half and repeatedly questioned whether his clock was a bomb. Ahmed was arrested not for what he had brought to school but because of his teacher's preconceptions about him and his race. Because of his Sudanese descent and Islamic faith, Ahmed was treated in a way that a child of a different race never would have experienced.[pic 1][pic 2]

                 When the Chief of Police in Irving, Larry Boyd, questioned Ahmed about what the device was and Ahmed answered honestly that it was a clock, it was not enough for the Chief who continued to question Ahmed about the device. When asked later why he did not believe Ahmed that the device was a clock, Boyd said that Ahmed should have been more "forthcoming" and descriptive about the clock. Boyd also said that race played no issue in the arrest.

         In Texas, a person who commits a hoax bomb offense is someone who "knowingly manufactures, sells, purchases, transports, or possesses a hoax bomb with intent to use" it or intentionally causes alarm or reaction." Ahmed's father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, received a call from the police that his son had committed the crime of a hoax bomb. The boy's father asked to speak to his son but was denied his request and was also not allowed to see the device that the police had deemed the hoax bomb, but he already knew what it was. Ahmed's father said, "I asked if I could see the thing they were calling a bomb. The police never let me even see it but I knew what my son brought to school. It was an alarm clock that he made. He wakes up with it most mornings." Mr. Mohamed was obviously shocked that his son was treated this way and believed it was because of his name and background. "My son's name is Mohamed -- people just think Muslims are terrorists but we are peaceful, we are not that way," he said.[pic 3][pic 4]

        On social media, there was an outcry against the school saying that they judged him unfairly because of his race. The #IStandWithAhmed started trending on twitter after more and more people heard of the incident and wanted to show their support for the young boy. People such as Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of facebook, reached out to Ahmed. The news even reached President Obama who personally invited Ahmed to visit the White House. This  For this many people to be outraged over the incident is certainly a start but the question remains: How would Ahmed have been treated if he was of a different nationality or religion? Alia Salem of the Council on American-Islamic Relations believes his race played a major role, "I think this wouldn't even be a question if his name wasn't Ahmed Mohamed.

" In March of 2014, 13 year old Jamie Edwards became the youngest person in the world to create a nuclear fusion reactor. Edwards built the reactor in a underused science building at his school in Penwortham, England. When his teachers saw it they were not upset or frightened but praised him for it. Children like Edwards should not be praised for their curiosity while Ahmed is unable to build a clock without being arrested for it being a "hoax bomb.[pic 5][pic 6]

            Curiosity in technology at an early age can also lead to innovation. Steve Jobs had talked about how his curiosity with electronics led to his career in technology. At age 17, Jobs had tinkered with devices called "blue boxes" that allowed the user to make free phone calls anywhere in the world. He said that those experiences were "magical" and "taught us the power of ideas." The blue boxes were of course illegal, but if Jobs had been arrested for his curiosity we may have never had one of the most innovative technological minds of our time. By discouraging children from building and creating and by shutting down their curiosity we might be depriving the world of truly great innovation. When asked about the what happened Ahmed said, “It made me feel like I wasn’t human, it made me feel like I was a criminal." This type of event could very well discourage a young boy from pursuing a career in the field of engineering.

        In America, Muslims are treated worse than perhaps any other group in America. There are over 3.4 million Muslim people in the United States and over 2 billion worldwide. The millions of Muslim and Arab people who immigrated to America before 9/11 assimilated well into American society, but after the attacks on 9/11 many Muslims and Middle-Eastern people have struggled to fit in due to the stereotypes against their people. The growing perception of Muslims, that they all hate Americans and are violent because of their religion, has caused the disenfranchisement of this entire group of people through no fault of their own. Although the percentage of violent Muslims is very small they have had the greatest influence on how the American public views Muslim people. Since 9/11 people have been weary to trust Middle-Easterners, but the trepidation of America to trust them has gone too far. In the year following the attacks on 9/11, hate crimes against Middle-Eastern people went up over 1,700 percent according to the FBI. The horror of 9/11, combined with the ethnicity of those who caused it and the terrorists claims that it was a religious act led to a new reputation for Middle-Eastern people as violent terrorists. Although Islam is a varied religion with many different sects and views, Americans began to picture Muslims as terrorists that only wanted to destroy America. This perception has not completely faded from our memories and with new threats such as ISIS appearing the American people have been put back on edge toward Middle-Eastern and Islamic people.

        Islamaphobia in the United States has died down somewhat in recent years but the bias against this group of people cannot be perpetuated any longer. For Ahmed to walk into a room full of police officers and hear the words, "Yup. That's who I thought it was," referring to who he thought had built a bomb, is unacceptable. For even our police force who are supposed to be fair, just and equal to assume immediately that a bomb threat would be from a Middle-Eastern child shows what kind of society we live in I post 9/11 America. If we hope for a future where a child like Ahmed Mohamed has the same chances of success as a child of Caucasian origin then America must put aside its prejudices against Middle-Eastern and Muslim People and learn to look beyond what they first see when they look at someone.