The hashtag IStandWithAhmed quickly erupted in social media, with President Barack Obama and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg joining other netizens showing support for the boy.
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A Texas teenager was taken away from school in handcuffs after he brought a homemade clock to a Dallas area school this week and school staff mistook it for a bomb, the Dallas Morning News reported on Wednesday. When the clock’s alarm went off during class, Ahmed showed it to his English teacher, who said it, looked like a bomb and then confiscated it.
Ahmed Mohamed, the 14-year-old engineering prodigy that was arrested for bringing a homemade clock to school, has made national headlines today, and caught the attention of some very influential people.
The White House said Ahmed was invited to participate in an astronomy night next month. Writing on micro-blogging site Twitter, Obama tweeted, “Want to bring it to the White House?” This worldwide popularity inevitably got the attention of celebrities, including Facebook, Google and even the White House.
Professor Prescod-Weinstein said: “You are the kind of student we want at places like MIT and Harvard. It’s what makes America great”, Obama tweeted.
“It made me really happy to see everyone support me on social media”, he said. “The student would only say that it was a clock and wasn’t forthcoming at that time with any further details”. “We live in an age that horrific things have happened in schools across this nation and, of course, we have to be cautious”.
Ahmed Mohamed appeared at a news conference Wednesday alongside his attorney, a representative for the Muslim community and his family members.
Mohamed has been suspended from school, the Morning News said.
The teen’s father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, said he believes his son was mistreated because his name is Mohamed and because of the September 11th terrorist attacks.
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Ahmed’s story also sparked a trend of people posting pictures of themselves with clocks and tagging it #IStandWithAhmed and #NotABomb.
