The Ahmeds Of Texas Are The Future -- We Must Embrace And Support Them Now

[L. Coyote]

The Ahmeds Of Texas Are The Future -- We Must Embrace And Support Them Now
[center]

The heartbreaking tweet on Ahmed’s Twitter account, run by his sisters, reveals the message we are sending minority students.[/center]

By now, you’ve heard about Ahmed. The Irving, Texas ninth grader and robotics enthusiast, Ahmed Mohamed, built a homemade clock and brought it to MacArthur High School to show off to his engineering teacher. Cautiously supportive but sadly worldly about the environment in which he taught, the teacher praised the work but advised Ahmed to keep it under wraps. By 6th period, after Ahmed had shown the device to an English teacher, Ahmed was explaining over and over to Irving police officers that it was just a clock. He was nevertheless arrested because the “suspicious device” looked “like a bomb,” and the wellspring of support in the 24 hours since has included invitations to Google GOOGL +0.00%, Facebook FB +1.08%, and the White House.

I taught high school about 20 minutes from Ahmed’s high school. There is no question in my mind that had a white student brought such a creation into school, he would have been celebrated. Not a soul would have even thought of calling the police. The charges against Ahmed have been dropped, but the sting remains — it will remain with Ahmed for the rest of his life, regardless of the good things that come from it. The incident never should have happened.

It resulted from the intersection of Islamaphobic paranoia and zero-tolerance policies that have plagued U.S. students, especially minorities, for decades. The non-profit organization Texas Appleseed has lobbied against zero tolerance policies that feed the school-to-prison pipeline for years, and the National Association of School Psychologists call them “complex, costly and generally ineffective.” I frustratingly witnessed too many students heading to suspension because of misguided policies that disproportionately target minorities.

Ahmed’s high school attempted to defend their actions as .......

[Rex]

1. We care about you because you are the future of this country. All children are.

Please don't let a few white entitled assholes, cloud your view of people Ahmed. Sadly Texas has a problem with trying to still live in the 1950s. Irving Texas seems to be such a place.

Also, your engineering teacher is a stupid moron that has in IQ of 4.

Chin up.

[L. Coyote]

2. Hopefully, his teacher is already fired.

[Rex]

5. As a former public school teacher, this story makes me ill.

His teacher didn't ask how it worked or I guess did not care. Brown skin - check. Terreristy sounding name - check. It was a bomb. OEM.

Should be an interesting school board meeting and I suspect the next city council meeting will be full of fireworks.

[longship]

3. Homer Hickam and associates have given Ahmed a scholarship to Space Camp!

Homer Hickam @HomerHickam
@SpaceCampUSA My co-creators at rocketboysthemusical.com have offered Ahmed a scholarship at Space Camp just as we did for Keira Wilmot.

[L. Coyote]

4. Mark Zuckerberg "Ahmed, if you ever want to come by Facebook ...." Obama "Cool clock"

Plus this of course:

[Rex]

6. [phone]

The POTUS stepped up and knocked this one off the planet!

[L. Coyote]

7. Tech Titans And Politicians Rally Around High Schooler Arrested For Bringing A Clock To School

Tech Titans And Politicians Rally Around High Schooler Arrested For Bringing A Clock To School

In just three days time, Ahmed Mohamed has gone from being a relatively unknown high school student with an interest in robotics to one of the most talked about people in the tech community. .....

Box CEO Aaron Levie and Square CEO Jack Dorsey are also among the growing list of tech titans that have taken to social media to showcase their support of Mohamed. Both President Obama and presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton have backed Mohamed and condemned his arrest.

.............