The young student from Irving, Texas discovered something
far more valuable than how to make an electronic clock. He discovered just how
racists and bigoted our society is. True we try to hide it. But his simple
clock brought it out in the open where everyone could see it.
You see, when Ahmed Mohamad, who is Muslim and 14,
brought his class project to science class, school officials and campus police
suspected it was a bomb. Right away they
went to bomb. BUT THEY DID NOT LOCK DOWN THE SCHOOL. WHY? Because they had their “man”. The chief of police in Irving even claimed
that the young man had been most uncooperative. “When we asked him what the device
was he said it was a clock. He kept
saying it was a clock over and over. It’s just a clock. He wasn’t very forthcoming.”
Well, let’s see…it was a clock. Finally when the science teacher was called
in the whole mess was straightened out, but not before Ahmed had been placed in
handcuffs and lead away under arrest. He
was then placed in a confined space and surrounded by as many as five officers
and questioned. No parent present. No
lawyer present. No constitutional rights?
Why? He looked like an ARAB. Therefore he must be a terrorist. Or so the
police reasoned.
Well, guess what cops…it was a clock.
But more than tell the time of day, it
tells the time of Irving. Stuck deeply
in the past of racial isolationism and fear.
But before we get all haughty over Irving’s failure, let us remind
ourselves the rest of Texas (and the United States for that matter) isn’t much
better.
Racism and bigotry are alive and well
as never before here.
I know the police had a tough job. I for one am glad they are out there doing
it. But the reason they are getting black eyes in the public is that over and
over they are not doing the job they are assigned to do. Investigate. Look
into. Dig a little. Quit assuming just because of color or religion someone is
guilty.
Quit looking for the easy answers.
It is time for that. That’s what Ahmed’s clock really told us.
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