Fourteen year-old Ahmed Mohammed took a clock he had invented at home to school (MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas USA). His teacher thought it was a hoax bomb and told Ahmed not to tell any other teacher. Somehow, one of the other teachers heard a beep from the homemade clock which consisted of a circuit board with wires leading to a digital display and they called the cops on Ahmed who got arrested, handcuffed and had his fingerprints scanned.
After Ahmed was released and no charges were counted, social media went agog with support for the teenager. A hashtag was created in his honor #iStandWithAhmed and he has had brands, multinationals, artistes, social media influencers across the world and even presidents, actually, just the USA president tweet at him, inviting him either for lunch, to intern or study.
Hi @IStandWithAhmed, we 💙 building things at @twitter too. Would you consider interning with us? We’d love it — DM us! #IStandWithAhmed
— Twitter (@twitter) September 16, 2015
Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It’s what makes America great.
— President Obama (@POTUS) September 16, 2015
Hey Ahmed- we’re saving a seat for you at this weekend’s Google Science Fair…want to come? Bring your clock! #IStandwithAhmed — Google Science Fair (@googlescifair) September 16, 2015
.@IStandWithAhmed – An invite from @UNICEFinnovate‘s @hichrisfabian to visit our Innovation team! #IStandWithAhmed https://t.co/Gy6HZPamEM — UNICEF (@UNICEF) September 18, 2015
Even more, the news had individuals either posting selfies with clocks they took to work or ridiculing the treatment of a teenage boy by men of the force.
Watch out, it’s a brown guy with a clock! #IStandWithAhmed@IStandWithAhmedpic.twitter.com/8lzzrEakoi — Tariq Khokhar (@tkb) September 16, 2015
This video made me laugh lol #IStandWithAhmedpic.twitter.com/wayJVKEiyo
— Killa. (@Hard2Guard_) September 17, 2015
Some people have also said it is a PR stunt and some others have brought effects of the incident closer to home. Look out for a follow up article.
