The foul cocktail of hate and racism

President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Mark Zuckerberg and many other luminaries have articulated their support for Ahmed Mohamed, which is a trifling step of acknowledging the deep-rooted issue of profiling and racism.

The stance of mechanically-minded students of colour could not have been facilitated by the fact that the police in Texas arrested a ninth-grader for crafting a clock by hand and bringing it to school. The kid loved the robotics club in middle school and was hoping to join something similar in high school, so he brought his invention to impress his engineering teacher. But instead, the clock was confiscated and the cops were called in on him.

Students should be commended for their curiosity, passions and ambitions, especially within their schools. Yet, with disruptive mindsets and prejudice like this, children will end up being petrified of exploring their intellect and utilising their keenness to create. What is even more disconcerting? Ahmed, ostensibly, won’t be getting any form of sincere apology for the atrocious way he was treated by his own high school — not from Irving, Texas Mayor Beth Van Duyne and not from MacArthur High School principal Dan Cummings. Rather than owning up to their hate-based ideology and sheer discrimination that made such a reprehensible incident possible, it seems the fools responsible are determined to justify their behaviour.

Not just that, FOX News presenter Janelle Waffen has been glorified by other journalists on the network for calling out the 14-year-old on his “Muslim privilege”. Her baseless rant comprised the odd argument: “When is the last time a white Christian child got to meet Nasa scientists, the president and Mark Zuckerberg just for bringing a clock to school? If this doesn’t prove Obama is a secret Muslim in disguise to the left wing I don’t know what will.”

What these so-called honourable adults conveniently fail to acknowledge is that Ahmed was not invited for bringing a clock to school; he was invited due to a gross debacle of justice imposed upon him. What an overt ‘Muslim privilege’ to garner support for false accusations grounded on race or religion. What does this expurgation signify about the dilemmas many are evidently suffering from — just because they are black or Muslim or both? If a few Muslims committed a terrorist attack 14 years ago, why are people still hallucinating that every single Muslim is a terrorist? Why is it so hard to fathom that a terrorist can emerge from any sect, race or religion and that not all Muslims are terrorists.

I feel awful for what happened to Ahmed, but I’m ecstatic that he’s acquired so much love from social media and the people who matter. What we need now is the mending of bigoted beliefs of some, so that the next time a Muslim brings a homemade clock to school, he’s not arrested, but praised.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th,  2015.