MacArthur High School freshman arrested for making a clock "bomb"

townsend

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That's probably true, but the white boy wouldn't have been invited to the white house after either. So someone else sort of makes these things about race too.
The White House trip was a deliberate and necessary racially motivated move. Islamaphobia has been rampant in this country. I can give you examples but I don't feel that it's necessary.

White boys still don't get treated like middle Eastern men 99.9 percent of the time.
 

Jiggyfly

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That's probably true, but the white boy wouldn't have been invited to the white house after either. So someone else sort of makes these things about race too.
He was invited to Google and other places how are they making this about race?

“It's a blessing and a curse,” Ayisha said of Ahmed’s arrest and subsequent fame. “I don’t think he’ll ever be able to live normally again.”

But they were happy for invitations to visit companies including Google and to move and study in other cities, and for the tweets of support, including one from Hillary Clinton. They recalled how, barely two days earlier, their brother described struggling to hold back tears in front of police officers after his arrest.
That dam race baiting company google.
 
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dallen

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Mark Zuckerberg hates white people
 

Cotton

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boozeman

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While they might have overreacted, take a good look at his "clock". Sorry, most people would not recognize it as a clock.
 

Cotton

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Case closed.

Lock him up.
Just the other side of it that's not being widely reported. I think a lot of people may have thought it actually looked like a clock, which may have caused them to think the overreaction was even worse. I can understand why the "clock" in the picture could cause some pause. Not saying putting him in cuffs and detaining him was the answer, but I can sure see the reason for concern.
 
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boozeman

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Muslim group doesn't fault school or police for boy's arrest

Associated Press

By JAMIE STENGLE and DAVID WARREN, Associated Press

3 hrs ago





IRVING, Texas — One of the largest Muslim groups in Texas said Thursday that it does not fault police and school officials who handcuffed and suspended a 14-year-old Muslim boy after he brought a homemade clock to class that they mistook for a possible bomb.

Instead, Khalid Hamideh of the Islamic Association of North Texas blamed political leaders for espousing inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric and creating a "climate of fear."

"We're not pointing a finger at the school district or the police department," Hamideh said. "Under the current climate that exists in this country, you can't really blame them because when they see something like that, they have to react."

The association operates the mosque attended by the family of Ahmed Mohamed, the suburban Dallas student who became a sensation on social media after word spread about his clock and the way he was treated.

Ahmed was pulled from class Monday after he showed the device to a teacher. He was questioned by the principal and police, then handcuffed and taken to the police station.

The Muslim community is concerned that Ahmed was interrogated without a lawyer or his parents present and was led out in handcuffs, Hamideh said.

Irving Police Chief Larry Boyd has said department policy requires that handcuffs be used to protect officers and others.

Authorities declined to seek charges against the boy, saying there was no evidence he intended to cause alarm. They said he's free to retrieve his clock at the police station.

A police photo of the device shows a carrying case containing a circuit board and power supply wired to a digital display.

School district spokeswoman Lesley Weaver did not return a call for comment Thursday but previously said school administrators followed district policy, which allows staff to take action if a student has a "look-alike" weapon or engages in behaviors that "substantially disrupt or materially interfere with school activities."

Ahmed's father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, said Thursday that his son would not be returning to MacArthur High School. He said the family is still deciding on where he will go next.

The boy's sister, Ayisha Mohamed, 17, said Thursday she believes her brother is helping to change people's minds about Muslims.

She said her "heart just dropped" when she heard police had detained him. "It was a bad thing that turned into a blessing," she said.

As Ahmed's story spread across social media, Twitter soon erupted with support for the teen. The hashtag #IStandWithAhmed was tweeted more than 1 million times.

President Barack Obama invited him to the White House, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg posted that he wanted to meet him. A NASA scientist asked Ahmed to give him a call in a couple of years for a job opportunity.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also weighed in, cautioning that he did not know all the facts but that police were mistaken to arrest the boy.

"The last thing we want to do is put handcuffs on a kid unjustifiably," he told The Dallas Morning News. "It looks like the commitment to law enforcement may have gone too far."

On Thursday, Irving high school students said Ahmed has a reputation as a tinkerer and creator. He made small robotics, fixed people's phones and assembled a remote that could turn on projectors at school, they said.

"I remember seeing him in middle school, and he used to always bring stuff," said Sara Williams, 15. "He was just one of those kids that created stuff."

Nicholas Martin, also 15, said authorities "were just taking precautions" when they confiscated the clock, but he believes they overreacted because of Ahmed's ethnicity.

Ahmed's father emigrated from Sudan and twice ran for the presidency of that country.

Fourteen-year-old Pedro Andrade said school officials were right to be cautious but added, "If they really did think that it was a bomb, why didn't they evacuate?"

The controversy follows other incidents this year involving anti-Muslim sentiment, including a backlash against a proposed Muslim cemetery northeast of Dallas and a Republican lawmaker who told her staff to ask visiting Muslims to declare allegiance to America. Also, the Irving City Council endorsed one of several bills in the state Legislature to forbid judges from rulings based on "foreign laws."

"All of these people who push this hate agenda need to engage the Muslim community and to understand the Muslim identity in this country," Hamideh said.

Back in May, Texas law enforcement was on heightened alert when two men opened fire in the Dallas suburb of Garland outside a center hosting a cartoon contest with depictions of the prophet Muhammad. Both attackers were shot dead, and an officer was shot in the leg. From the other side of the world, the Islamic State group made an unproven claim of responsibility.

Cathie Adams, president of the conservative Texas Eagle Forum and former chairwoman of the Texas Republican Party, said Thursday that Ahmed's clock looked suspicious and that authorities were right to act.

She said the boy was "pushing the envelope" and provoking a response. "Was he testing the system? And why?"
 

Cotton

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It absolutely looked suspicious. How do you make sure suspicious stuff doesn't turn to deadly stuff ? It's a slippery slope. Hard to say in most cases, but in this case it should have been investigated. How it was investigated is up for debate.
 

Cowboysrock55

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He's a liberal, so yes.
This is exactly correct. Most liberals feel a need to treat minorities special. My personal belief has always been if you want to end racism you need to stop treating people differently but hey that's just me. Well me and Morgan Freeman anyway.
 

Cowboysrock55

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It absolutely looked suspicious. How do you make sure suspicious stuff doesn't turn to deadly stuff ? It's a slippery slope. Hard to say in most cases, but in this case it should have been investigated. How it was investigated is up for debate.
I think arresting him was a bit over the top. Of course it was something that needed to be looked into for security purposes though. Regardless of which kid in the school was carrying the clock.
 

Cotton

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I think arresting him was a bit over the top. Of course it was something that needed to be looked into for security purposes though. Regardless of which kid in the school was carrying the clock.
I agree with all of this.
 

Clay_Allison

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If you have to weigh over reaction and knee jerk actions against the possibility of children being exposed to mass murder, I will lean toward over reacting. You left no room for the possibility that school officials can approach matters in a sensible manner.
Zero tolerance policies leave no room for school officials to approach things in a reasonable manner.
 

L.T. Fan

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Zero tolerance policies leave no room for school officials to approach things in a reasonable manner.
If that's the case then how can anymore blame school officials for everything that happens within the violation of the system guidelines. If school officials have no room for judgement then they are simply doing what the system dictates they do?
 

Clay_Allison

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If that's the case then how can anymore blame school officials for everything that happens within the violation of the system guidelines. If school officials have no room for judgement then they are simply doing what the system dictates they do?
I more blame the school boards who approve these policies than the principals who feel obligated to enforce them. Sure, I've known administrators stubborn enough to use common sense anyway, but administrators are normally bureaucrats and they don't get in that position by using common sense.
 

Jiggyfly

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If that's the case then how can anymore blame school officials for everything that happens within the violation of the system guidelines. If school officials have no room for judgement then they are simply doing what the system dictates they do?

Since when does bringing a clock to school fall under "zero tolerance" man you are reaching on this one.

And people keep ignoring the fact that the never evacuated the school or called for a bomb squad so they knew it was not a bomb.
 

NoDak

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Since when does bringing a clock to school fall under "zero tolerance" man you are reaching on this one.
Speaking of reaching... That statement would be a little misleading, wouldn't you say? Of course there wouldn't be a zero tolerance policy for bringing a clock to school. Now, bringing something with a bunch of wires and a digital display packed into a case? Yeah, I could see that. And that's what this whole thing boils down to. Be honest... If you saw that thing for the first time, in person, would your first thought be that it was a clock?
 
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