Many kids have invented great machines which are never recognized. In Kenya, high school students through Science Congress competitions make amazing machines which end up being thrashed and archived. Ahmed represents a huge group of scientists who are marginalized and left in the dark.
Ahmed Mohamed made a homemade alarm clock. His invention led to his suspension from school. He was later detained and handcuffed by police officers on Monday after teachers accused him of making a bomb. By Wednesday, it had brought him an invitation to the White House, support from Hillary Rodham Clinton and Mark Zuckerberg. Ahmed entered a hall of fame when his name was everywhere and activists claimed that he was misjudged because of his religion.
On Monday, believing it was just another day, he took the clock to school and wanted to show it off to his teachers but it didn’t quite turn out that way. When he showed the homemade clock to his engineering teacher, Ahmed says he was told: “That’s really nice. I would advise you not to show it to other teachers.” However, this invention had an alarm that went off in English class. The teacher asked him to show her what had made the noise. “She was like, ‘it looks like a bomb,'” Ahmed said. The report went around the school and teachers got paranoid. Shooting incidents and other criminal activities that were reported in that state added to the paranoia and the fact that the kid was Muslim.
Five police officers arrived and Ahmed was pulled out of class. The police officers thought Ahmed was a terrorist given that he is of Sudanese origin and a Muslim. His father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, is politically active and has tried to run for president in Sudan.
“Later that day I was taken to a juvenile detention center, where they searched me, they took a fingerprint and mugshots of me.” Ahmed said.
Ahmed was treated like a criminal and he was forced to write statements down. Well, Under Texas law, a person is guilty of possessing a hoax bomb if he possesses a device that is intended to cause anyone to be alarmed or a reaction of any type by law enforcement officers.
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On Twitter many people came up to support the young scientist under the tag #IStandWithAhmed. Even President Obama came in to support the kid. “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.”
“This episode is a good illustration of how pernicious stereotypes can prevent even good-hearted people who have dedicated their lives to educating young people from doing the good work that they set out to do,” said Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary.
Cnet reports that the clock was a digital display wired up to a circuit board and power supply inside a pencil case with a tiger on the front. Ahmed said that it took him 20 minutes to put together. If you support the upcoming scientist, let the # tag trend #IStandWithAhmed
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