World

#IStandWithAhmed: Fighting Islamophobia one tweet at a time

Many, including some incredibly high-profile supporters, take to social media to let Ahmed know he is not alone

Web Desk September 17, 2015

The teenager was handcuffed and taken to police headquarters and was not allowed to call his parents. PHOTO: The Dallas Morning News

Many, including some incredibly high-profile supporters such as US President Barack Obama and Facebook CEO, are rallying behind a 14-year-old Muslim student who was detained in Texas for bringing a homemade clock to school.

Ahmed Mohamed from Irving, Texas, left school in handcuffs on Monday after his teacher and school principal said his homemade clock looked like a bomb.

The hashtag #IStandWithAhmed has taken social media by storm and people are tweeting to let Ahmed know he is not alone.

Read: Obama invites arrested Muslim schoolboy to White House

Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg was not far behind in his support for the teenager and expressed his wish to meet the boy. "Having the skill and ambition to build something cool should lead to applause, not arrest. The future belongs to people like Ahmed."

“Ahmed, if you ever want to come by Facebook, I’d love to meet you. Keep building,” he wrote in a status update on his Facebook profile.

Micro-blogging site Twitter was not one to stay behind and went one step ahead and offered an internship to Ahmed, saying they loved building things too.

https://twitter.com/twitter/status/644261776146632704

Space Camp USA also took to Twitter to inform the 14-year-old he was welcome at the camp as someone had provided a scholarship for him.

Creative minds are always welcome at Space Camp, and we appreciate donors who help them come. Someone has provided a scholarship for Ahmed.
— SpaceCampUSA (@SpaceCampUSA) September 16, 2015

Read: Muslim student arrested in US after home-built clock mistaken for bomb

And Google invited him to its science fair, but only if he promised to bring his clock.

https://twitter.com/googlescifair/status/644219471469629440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Celebrities and many others have also been tweeting in support of Ahmed and there is no sign of them stopping any time soon.

This the best part... we brought in an MIT physicist to invite Ahmed to come tour the school... #inners
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) September 17, 2015

Do I look dangerous yet? #IstandwithAhmed #ahmeding pic.twitter.com/15cAGd8Y7s
— Ana Marie Cox (@anamariecox) September 16, 2015

https://twitter.com/shannonwoodward/status/644181586695471104

Watch out, it's a brown guy with a clock! #IStandWithAhmed @IStandWithAhmed pic.twitter.com/8lzzrEakoi
— Tariq Khokhar (@tkb) September 16, 2015

https://twitter.com/floresgump11/status/644173833713283072

https://twitter.com/LOMBARDIGNITY/status/644175309286318080

In solidarity with @IStandWithAhmed CAIR-Chicago staff brought our clocks to work too. #IStandWithAhmed pic.twitter.com/NK9CWhyfru
— CAIR-Chicago (@cairchicago) September 16, 2015

If it looks like a clock, ticks like a clock, is a clock but your name is Mohamed then its a bomb #IstandWithAhmed pic.twitter.com/DP8rrYWyVZ
— TheMuslimLawyer (@faisalkutty) September 16, 2015

Team @ReThinkRights says #IStandWithAhmed. #nerdingwhilemuslim pic.twitter.com/JebdDmzJB8
— ReThink Media (@rethink_media) September 16, 2015

https://twitter.com/BruiseAurora/status/644161725005062145

https://twitter.com/femme_esq/status/644158440932249600

Overwhelmed by all the support, Ahmed thanked everyone and appealed to them to come "together to stop this racial inequality and prevent this from happening again".

Thank you fellow supporters. We can ban together to stop this racial inequality and prevent this from happening again pic.twitter.com/fBlmckoafU
— Ahmed Mohamed (@IStandWithAhmed) September 16, 2015

Some people also used the hashtag which was trending worldwide to share photos of themselves with clocks or watches to show solidarity:

In solidarity with @IStandWithAhmed CAIR-Chicago staff brought our clocks to work too. #IStandWithAhmed pic.twitter.com/NK9CWhyfru
— CAIR-Chicago (@cairchicago) September 16, 2015

Brought my clock to work today. #IStandWithAhmed #Solidarity pic.twitter.com/h4Jr0siF1A
— Simran Jeet Singh (@simran) September 16, 2015

The 14-year-old intends to stand up for his rights and tweeted that he would be meeting his lawyer to come up with the future course of action.

Going to meet my lawyer. pic.twitter.com/YCxOOeOz3Z
— Ahmed Mohamed (@IStandWithAhmed) September 16, 2015

He has also set up a fundraiser account for anyone who would like to help him:

https://twitter.com/IStandWithAhmed/status/644319978225700864

COMMENTS (12)

Jacinta | 9 years ago | Reply I'm confused, a suitcase with a clock in it isn't a bomb? wow! That makes the bomb squads job a lot easier!!! Just leave it!! It's just a brilliant persons homemade clock! No need for alarm!! Can I take one of these cool "clocks" on the airplane with me?? I shouldn't have a problem going through security- now that the world has been properly educated and is now aware that a suitcase that ticks is completely harmless!!! What a joke this whole situation is and what's funnier is all the idiots applauding this. I'm losing faith in the ability for people to use their common sense and get over this fear of discrimination. Ted Kaczynski was white. i don't care who you are, a suitcase, a clock..... (Dismantled clock that is, put in a brief case, he just forgot the explosives, doesn't seem so smart to me)

Xman | 9 years ago | Reply @wb : if you'd paid a little more attention, you would have realised its not about the clock that is special, it's the skill and ambition to build something new and cool (something copycat Indians will never understand)

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ajeet | 9 years ago | Reply If other Muslims had used a clock just to see time, this issue wouldn't have happened. Istandwithminoritiesinmuslimcountries.

wb | 9 years ago | Reply @Hasan: "He made the clock himself. From scratch. Can you do that?" No, I can't do that. But what do you mean by scratch? Did he make LCD, battery, wires, plastic, copper etc etc? Did he come up with the idea of a clock? I'm not undermining the boy's work. But my question is why is the clock special? What's unique about it?

Imran Ahsan Mirza | 9 years ago | Reply @wb: Any clock made by a year 8 student is magical.

Sharif Khan | 9 years ago | Reply A bit of an overreaction by the police, but look at that clock, a briefcase full of wires and big red scary numbers, it does look like a bomb to an untrained eye

MA | 9 years ago | Reply Enough said. There are 101 other issues in this country that are effectively racial. Let's not lose focus with one such issue. Come on school, just apologize and all will be forgiven.

Pnpuri | 9 years ago | Reply Handcuffing a14 year old boy probably police in Texas is color blind, who get blinded when color is brown.

Hasan | 9 years ago | Reply @wb He made the clock himself. From scratch. Can you do that?

citizen26 | 9 years ago | Reply So what happened to the teacher? Was he arrested or was he given some sort of civil award for keeping Great America safe?

Haider Rehman | 9 years ago | Reply People are brainwashed by USA media...

wb | 9 years ago | Reply All the support is great. But what is this clock? What magical clock did he invent that the world had not known. Can anyone share a link about what was special/unique/new about this clock?

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