The young tinkerer from Texas who was arrested past year for bringing a homemade alarm clock to school – and was later invited to the White House and Google’s world headquarters – has filed a federal lawsuit against his former hometown, accusing it of violating his civil rights as part of a wider pattern of discrimination against African-American students.
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Ahmed’s Sudanese father who is also an American citizen filed a lawsuit on Monday against the Irving Independent School District, the city, and principal for racial and religious discrimination.
On Sept. 14, 2015, Ahmed took a pencil box – that he had converted into an alarm clock – to Irving MacArthur High School, where he was a freshman. Last September, Mohamed made a clock using leftover electronics parts and brought it to school to show his teachers. The charges were eventually dropped, according to NBC-DFW, but Mohammed was still suspended by the school district for three days.
The lawsuit names Irving Independent School District, the city of Irving and the school’s principal, and asks a jury to determine the damages.
Irving School District spokeswoman Lesley Weaver said in a statement that the school district did not violate Mohamed’s rights.
Irving ISD and city officials have not yet commented on the suit.
The specifics of that lawsuit will not be known until after it has been filed. “I got a lot of support in the beginning, but it’s the hate that sticks”, said Ahmed, 14.
The detention and suspension of Ahmed became a story of global interest – he took on the nickname of “clock boy” – because he was a Muslim at a time when anti-Muslim sentiment was raging. The suit alleges that Ahmed, an African-American Muslim, was discriminated against based on his race and religion and that his Fourth Amendment rights were violated when he was questioned by police and Cummings. Both Ahmed and his Sudanese immigrant father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamad, are USA citizens, the lawsuit notes.
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The case is an “opportunity to take a stand for equality and for justice, two things that should prevail above all else”, according to the lawsuit. My dad doesn’t have a job anymore. I lost my home, I lost my creativity because before I used to love building things but now I can’t. Over [in Qatar] it’s very boring, I can’t do anything. However, Ahmed has expressed a desire to return to the US, telling The Washington Post that he gets “bored” in Qatar and would like to study in an American college.
