UPDATE (9/16/15, 1:45 p.m.): Below is the completely unsympathetic post from Irving's mayor Beth Van Duyne, who, unsurprisingly, was also at the Donald Trump rally this week.
UPDATE (9/16/15): Here is the official statement from the Irving Police on why they arrested Ahmed (basically because he refused to say the object was anything other than a clock... even though that's all it really it was).
However, he does have President Obama on his side. D'aww:
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.
As well as Hillary Clinton:
Assumptions and fear don't keep us safe—they hold us back. Ahmed, stay curious and keep building. https://t.co/ywrlHUw3g1
And Mark Zuckerberg:
After the hashtag started trending, Ahmed joined Twitter as @IStandWithAhmed.
Thank you for your support! I really didn't think people would care about a muslim boy. #Thankyouforstandingwithme #IStandWithAhmed
Thank you fellow supporters. We can ban together to stop this racial inequality and prevent this from happening again pic.twitter.com/fBlmckoafU
See original story from 9/16/15 below.
Ahmed Mohamed, a 14-year-old Muslim student at Texas' Irving MacArthur High, brought what he thought was an inventive showcase for a class project. Instead, his school day ended in handcuffs.
The 9th grader, who Dallas News describes as a smart kid who "makes his own radios and reparis his own go-kart," brought in a homemade clock to class. But rather than being impressed, his teacher said it resembled a bomb, and he was sent to the principal's office, where a police officer arrested him in handcuffs. The clock apparently had a circuit board, a metal case, and a digital clock display—like any old digital clock—but the authorities responded with, "It looks like a movie bomb to me."
A police spokesman said there was "no reason to think it was dangerous"; the verdict leans toward a clear case of Islamophobia. Ahmed said when he was brought to the principal an officer (who he's never seen before) looked at him and said, "Yup, that's who I thought it was." The unfair treatment of a harmless young student has Twitter trending with the hashtag #IStandWithAhmed.
Above, Ahmed talks about how he's always been an inventor and details of his traumatizing day, in which he was searched, interrogated, and arrested. The most disheartening part of this is that schools should be encouraging Ahmed's innovation, but instead he's faced with discouragement. Ahmed, we stand with you.
