When Ahmed Mohamed went to his high school in Irving, Texas, Monday, he was so excited. A teenager with dreams of becoming an engineer, he wanted to show his teacher the digital clock he'd made from a pencil case.
The 14-year-old's day ended not with praise, but punishment, after the school called police and he was arrested. A photo shows Ahmed, wearing a NASA t-shirt, looking confused and upset as he's being led out of school in handcuffs.
"They arrested me and they told me that I committed the crime of a hoax bomb, a fake bomb," the freshman later explained to WFAA after authorities released him.
Irving Police spokesman Officer James McLellan told the station, "We attempted to question the juvenile about what it was and he would simply only tell us that it was a clock."
The teenager did that because, well, it was a clock, he said.
On Wednesday, police announced that the teen will not be charged.
"Will not be charged." Well that's mighty white of them.
One guy on Twitter pointed out just how incredibly unfair this was.
#IStandWithAhmed When a white kid builds nuclear fusion reactor it's cool but when a Muslim builds a clock it's not pic.twitter.com/TFwfg1lUf4
— wiss.➶ (@BUCKVBVRNES) September 16, 2015
Ahh Texas. Will you ever NOT be a hot bed of racism and Islamophobia?Well at least the kid has the President on his side.
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
Of course in Texas that will only make him seem more suspicious.This seems like a good place for this.