When Ahmed Mohamed decided to bring a homemade electronic clock to his Texas school, he hoped his teachers would be impressed with his ingenuity. Instead, Ahmed found himself at the center of a teachable moment on racism and terrorism after he was taken from the school in handcuffs because a teacher thought the device was a bomb.Read the whole story here.
On Monday, Ahmed, 14, brought the device, a collection of wires and electronic gizmos, to MacArthur High School in Irving, near Dallas. The boy, who had never been in trouble before, was eventually sent to the principal’s office and questioned by four police officers. They led the ninth-grader, who was wearing a NASA T-shirt, from the campus in handcuffs and took him to a youth detention center where he was fingerprinted and then released to his parents.
Let's be honest for a minute. I'm a six foot two, two hundred fifty pound black guy that likes the gym, has tattoos, sports a bald head and goatee and I have a deep voice.
People pause. Do an assessment and determine whether I'm a threat or not.
It happens on a daily basis. Why? Because of the part of my culture that is inspired by gang antics, stupid dress style (sagging pants???? I'll never get over that...I've been told by people that know that its an indication in prisons that you're ready to be penetrated anally) and criminal behavior.
Do I like it? No. I don't carry myself that way, but while it irks, it's at the same time understandable.
Fast forward to the Ahmed story.
The Dallas metroplex witnessed an assault by Muslim Terrorist not long ago. Additionally we've seen all kinds of attacks by young Muslim men. Is it outside the realm of reasonableness for the school personnel with no knowledge of bomb making etc to react badly?
Life is life and snap judgements/mistakes are just part of it. Let me give you a scenario the other way. Three bikers walking down the sidewalk heading toward me. I see Aryan Nation patches, 1% patches, Swastikas and steel toed boots. My hand will slide to my G26 and I will make ready until we either pass each other without incident or they cross the street.
Reality is reality. Its time America start dealing with it. This isn't Islamaphobia. This is a reaction to the activity that we've seen out of the Middle East and just down the road in Arlington Texas. The loonies need to relax the stupidity.
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