J. Tyler Holmes

While most students dread Mondays, this would be especially true for 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed on Sept. 14th at MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas. According to CNN, Ahmed Mohamed created a homemade digital clock out of a pencil case and brought it to school to show off to a particular teacher of his. Except instead of praise, Ahmed became a victim of profiling.

His teacher believed this to be the creation of a bomb Ahmed had brought to school. He was then sent to the school’s main office where local authorities would take the investigation of his “hoax bomb” further and place Ahmed under arrest. Social media blew up in support of Ahmed pursuing his creative projects. The hashtag #IStandWithAhmed reigned strong across multiple websites.

Everything has worked in Ahmed’s favor since Monday, since he has received support from many professionals in the creative field including Mark Zuckerberg. Ahmed announced in a press conference this afternoon that all charges against him have been dropped and he is currently looking into transferring schools.

This Texas-based story really hit home with me. I never witnessed any sort of profiling in any my schooling growing up. No issues regarding racial profiling or prejudice ever arose. Could being from a culturally diverse city like San Antonio actually make that big of a difference from another city only 3-4 hours away? Possibly. Dallas is known for its more conservative viewpoint, as I have experienced firsthand from my travels there through the years.

What I can say, however, is that I’m proud so many others have taken a stand in Ahmed’s defense from my home state and that his brilliance is being acknowledged. I expect we may eventually see great things from this aspiring engineer.