9th Grade Muslim student arrested for bringing a homemade clock to school

[Flame Dragon]

Assumptions are a bad thing to make, y'know? Well, it doesn't matter anymore. The past is the past, and even if Osama did do something incredibly heinous, what's the point in living in the past? I'd forgive him.

 

Heres the thing, you don't need to do that. Not doing so isn't going to cause you any harm. People that do truly heinous things are best forgotten and left to the history books as symbols of evil. Ex: Hitler.

 

Yeah this was super dumb. But I'm gonna say that even had he not been Muslim this might have happened. Schools in America (I say in America cause I can't speak for everyone) are crazy paranoid about any kind of threat. And honestly rightfully so.

I don't doubt this would/could have happen to anyone in a similar position. That really isn't the question imo. The question is would it have escalated like this. Would he have been put in cuffs and figure printed if he wasn't Muslim for example is something we don't know. Though I don't think its unreliable for people to say there was a racial bias, especially given the one officers comment upon seeing the child and the fact that this country CERTAINLY has one.

[Βyakuya]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/09/16/istandwithahmed-scientists-and-the-public-surge-to-support-boy-arrested-for-homemade-clock/?tid=sm_tw

 

Some uplifting news at the most. Though it's disheartening Ahmed at one point not to bring his inventions to school anymore, has been urged by many supporters of fellow Islamists and scientists to continue his dreams and has been invited to the White House by Obama. Even though the media has to bring up these kinds of social tragedies, it does quickly gather the best in supporters. I indeed hope he continues his engineering path to become on a higher position than what those school officials and police officers did to him.

[Miror B]

funk TEXAS.

And funk you too.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

I hope he continues his dream to do what he loves as well.

It's nice of Obama and several scientists to extend an invitation to him.

 

Whatever happened in this case, he didn't deserve to be arrested/fingerprinted and suspended.

 

Yeah this was super dumb. But I'm gonna say that even had he not been Muslim this might have happened. Schools in America (I say in America cause I can't speak for everyone) are crazy paranoid about any kind of threat. And honestly rightfully so.

 

However once they realized it was not an actual bomb an apology should have been made and charges dropped.

1. Unfortunately, because of 9/11 and essentially every other terrorism attempt in this country, it's gotten to the point where ANYTHING can be considered a bomb.

Pretty sure people haven't forgotten about what happened in Boston a couple years ago, among other things.

 

In this case, all he did was design a digital clock (just like he said), but this had to happen.

 

I can't say if the same thing would've happened if this had been a kid of a different nationality (i.e. Caucasian, Latino, Asian, etc.); maybe and maybe not.

 

America is still known for a degree of racism in certain areas, so certain races might have got off easier if they did what Ahmed did here.

Either they dismiss it as a legitimate clock off the bat and things go as normal, or they do the same thing and outright arrest/fingerprint the kid for making a fake bomb.

 

Although it would be rather foolish to assume that a certain nationality is free from committing certain crimes that are usually attributed to another.

 

---------

2. The charges were dropped, yes, but the kid is certainly owed a sincere apology.

I probably wouldn't be surprised if his family decides to sue the school for damages.

 

Certainly, the school erred on the side of caution, but given that it was just a normal science project and NOT a bomb, which the teacher in question appeared to have thought, all charges should've be dropped and he'd be allowed to come back to school the next day.

 

We need to get the idea that all Muslims are born terrorists out of our minds.

Just because ISIL and other terror groups exist (and no, I have not neglected the Boston bombings), it does not mean all followers of Islam will grow up and start blowing up countries and whatnot.

 

------

Sigh, I really don't know what to think of this.

All I can say is hopefully things pan out for Ahmed in the end.

[Shalltear Bloodfallen]

Something's been bothering me ever since I read this when it got posted and I finally figured it out.

I dont understand how they could've (legitamitely) thought it was a bomb.

 

As far as I can tell from the pictures, there's not even a trace of.... anything, that could be misstaken as a explosive charge or canister for biological material. Seems to basicly just be a circuit board hooked up to a LED display. Yet the officers insist on reffering to it as a "hoax bomb", why?

 

And lets not talk about the fact that he showed it to the teachers. What sense does it make that he'd let them know if he did actually create a bomb.

 

 

If this aint a case of incredible paranoia and/or racism. I dont know what it is

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

I have no idea why they thought it was a bomb in the first place.

Yes, there exists a circuit board and a few other things; probably officials assumed that he'd use a cell phone or something to set it off.

 

But yeah, it was just a circuit board inside of a pencil box, nothing more than that. 

 

(I admit, for a 14-year old, he's pretty impressive in building a digital clock that works. At best, I can only really design programs to set the time, but not design the actual device itself)

 

------

At this point, I'll assume paranoia about getting blown up and Islamophobia/racial factors were the factors in this case.

That, and assuming that he had nano-explosives inside said clock. (Again, where is a 14-year old going to find nano-sized explosives?)

 

I will not dismiss the possibility that terrorists will find inventive new ways to design explosives, but in this case, seems very unlikely that a 14-year old could design a weapon of mass destruction within a matter of days.

 

It was a bad idea to show the teachers, especially because the entire country is more/less scared of a bombing in schools and other public places.

 

Officers probably called it a hoax bomb because they assumed Ahmed brought in the clock to inspire terror. Looking at one picture, it had quite a bit of wiring, and bombs kinda have a lot of those themselves.

 

However, it was indeed a regular clock that he designed in a pencil box at the end of the day.

[Flame Dragon]

Officers probably called it a hoax bomb because they assumed Ahmed brought in the clock to inspire terror. Looking at one picture, it had quite a bit of wiring, and bombs kinda have a lot of those themselves.

Heres the thing though, he wasn't going around showing other kids. He never called it a bomb. When two the things that would cause a panic aren't done you have zero reason to think he was trying to cause any kind of panic.

 

Thats honestly part of the problem. Movies have trained people to fear electrical things with wires sticking out. We assume bombs will have a count down clock but why in the world would anyone design a bomb with one in real life.

 

Schools needing to be vigilant is a factor here

Some amount of underlying racism is a factor here

And so is the general ineptitude of people when it comes to technology.

 

I honestly wonder how freaked out some people might get if you showed them the inner workings of an every day electrical device.

[Yu-gi-oh Dude]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/09/16/istandwithahmed-scientists-and-the-public-surge-to-support-boy-arrested-for-homemade-clock/?tid=sm_tw

 

Some uplifting news at the most. Though it's disheartening Ahmed at one point not to bring his inventions to school anymore, has been urged by many supporters of fellow Islamists and scientists to continue his dreams and has been invited to the White House by Obama. Even though the media has to bring up these kinds of social tragedies, it does quickly gather the best in supporters. I indeed hope he continues his engineering path to become on a higher position than what those school officials and police officers did to him.

 

When an 'optimistic' comment conflates Islamists and Muslims, there's still something wrong. Islamist =/= Muslim. -_-

[Tentacruel]

As much as I feel bad for the kid, this thing is getting blown WAY out of proportion.  People are riding this kid's dick way too hard. 

[Yu-gi-oh Dude]

As much as I feel bad for the kid, this thing is getting blown WAY out of proportion.  People are riding this kid's dick way too hard. 

 

In the same way that the school blew his ingenuity out of proportion? .Did you see the speech he gave outside his house? He looked and sounded nervous. Ahmed doesn't want to be famous for this or anything. He just wants to be able to do what all kids intrinsically love doing - being creative - without being profiled for it, and ensure that others can do the same. 

 

I don't know how you can say this is being blown out of proportion, because the incident itself is on an equally large level. As soon as you drag a child (or anyone, for that matter) into a twisted stereotype of what you view to be a terrorist, whether you like it or not, you've made a massive accusation (implied or otherwise). Personally, I think that the more people speak about this, the more this sort of thing will be discouraged and eventually eliminated. 

[Progenitor]

In the same way that the school blew his ingenuity out of proportion? .Did you see the speech he gave outside his house? He looked and sounded nervous. Ahmed doesn't want to be famous for this or anything. He just wants to be able to do what all kids intrinsically love doing - being creative - without being profiled for it, and ensure that others can do the same. 

 

The school didn't blow this out of proportion.  The media did.

 

People getting "arrested" d=for stupid sheet like this happens WAY more often than you think.  But that is never in the news.  A Muslim 14-year-old inventor got arrested because his clock looked like a bomb?  SOUND THE ALARMS HATE CRIME HATE CRIME HATE CRIME.

 

In all honesty, the kid's clock DID actually look like your stereotypical movie briefcase bomb.  He was never going to be charged with a crime, and the LAST thing the school wanted was to discourage his ingenuity.  What he was suspended for, as most people seem to overlook, was that there was no proof that the clock was not intended as a fake bomb threat.  Sound's like Bullshit right?  Innocent until proven guilty much?  No.

 

In fact the school was actually doing him a favor.  With the funking media circus this turned into, why the funk would they make the poor kid go back to school the next day?  Everyone would be talking about him.  HE'S A funking FRESHMAN.  NOTHING IN THIS WORLD is more embarrassing then being a freshman and having EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THAT SCHOOL judging or confronting him about a situation he sooner wants to put behind him.

 

Don't jump on the bandwagon guys.  The first thing about the american media is to NEVER trust the opinions or even some facts of the media.  The school district isn't stupid.  The media isn't stupid.  They know exactly how to phrase things to cause discussion, and it just escalates as the next outlet tries to outdo the last one.

[Dad]

And funk you too.

 

FITE ME U LIL jabroni

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/09/16/istandwithahmed-scientists-and-the-public-surge-to-support-boy-arrested-for-homemade-clock/?tid=sm_tw

 

Some uplifting news at the most. Though it's disheartening Ahmed at one point not to bring his inventions to school anymore, has been urged by many supporters of fellow Islamists and scientists to continue his dreams and has been invited to the White House by Obama. Even though the media has to bring up these kinds of social tragedies, it does quickly gather the best in supporters. I indeed hope he continues his engineering path to become on a higher position than what those school officials and police officers did to him.

 

This kid is going to be receiving a lot of free opportunities because of this event.  He was able to turn a horrible time into something great for himself and hopefully, as he continues to progress and become an engineer, the world.

[Tentacruel]

The school handled it poorly, the media handled it poorly, and now a bunch of people who don't know or care about the kid are jumping on the bandwagon to show how "progressive" they are.

 

And for the record, yes, this was racism.

[Yu-gi-oh Dude]

The school didn't blow this out of proportion.  The media did.

 

People getting "arrested" d=for stupid s*** like this happens WAY more often than you think.  But that is never in the news.  A Muslim 14-year-old inventor got arrested because his clock looked like a bomb?  SOUND THE ALARMS HATE CRIME HATE CRIME HATE CRIME.

 

In all honesty, the kid's clock DID actually look like your stereotypical movie briefcase bomb.  He was never going to be charged with a crime, and the LAST thing the school wanted was to discourage his ingenuity.  What he was suspended for, as most people seem to overlook, was that there was no proof that the clock was not intended as a fake bomb threat.  Sound's like Bullshit right?  Innocent until proven guilty much?  No.

 

In fact the school was actually doing him a favor.  With the f***ing media circus this turned into, why the f*** would they make the poor kid go back to school the next day?  Everyone would be talking about him.  HE'S A f***ing FRESHMAN.  NOTHING IN THIS WORLD is more embarrassing then being a freshman and having EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THAT SCHOOL judging or confronting him about a situation he sooner wants to put behind him.

 

Don't jump on the bandwagon guys.  The first thing about the american media is to NEVER trust the opinions or even some facts of the media.  The school district isn't stupid.  The media isn't stupid.  They know exactly how to phrase things to cause discussion, and it just escalates as the next outlet tries to outdo the last one.

 

I disagree. The kid made a goddamn clock, but obviously that just is deserving of arrest, etc. Of course the school blew it out of proportion. 

 

It's not quite as blase as you've made it out to be. He was very clearly profiled based on his race and religion. This was Islamaphobic. And honestly, with all the crap that Muslims get in the media, I'd say that news items, especially in the States, about Muslims being the victim of something (such as this) are firmly in the minority. But yes, I do appreciate that the media highlight certain things and not others, which I'm guessing you can see from the sentence before this.

 

Nope, the clock didn't look like a movie bomb.

 

Movie Bomb: http://cdn.gajitz.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/defusable-clock-1.jpg

 

What Ahmed made: http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/10BF6/production/_85589586_16e23342-6ce7-4c4f-b176-88d94cf667b3.jpg

 

Now, I don't claim to be a pyrotechnics expert or anything, but in the first picture I can clearly see sticks of explosive attached to the timer. In Ahmed's clock, unless the briefcase were to be lined with some ultra-compact, high-energy explosive, I can't see anything that would actually be explosive. A faulty toaster could cause more damage than that briefcase. 

 

Also, the fact that you've highlighted 'movie bomb' is interesting. It implies that your knowledge of bombs comes from the media. I've never seen a bomb in real life, and I doubt you have either. We're trained to see what Ahmed has made as a bomb, because there's a few wires here and there, a circuit board, a LCD display, and HURR DURR IT'S A BOMB.

 

As for your reason for the suspension, think about it logically. If Ahmed were to use it to stage a fake bomb threat, why would he show it to his teacher? That makes absolutely zero sense. When it was actually discovered, it was because it was beeping in his bag, since the first teacher had told him to put it away. He had been told that the clock would appear threatening (the implication of which, in itself, is saddening), and thus obeyed. Where in this has Ahmed done anything wrong? Nowhere! He wanted to show a clock to an engineer teacher (the type of teacher you'd assume would be the right guy to go to in order to talk about this invention), and if it had been intended to be used as part of a fake bomb threat, that teacher would've known. 

 

So the school did him a favour of making a pariah out of him, singling him out? They did a favour by escalating matters to the law before trying to find a direct, local solution (which likely would not have made the situation as 'large' and daunting to Ahmed as you claim it to be)? They did a favour by having him arrested, and that since he's interacted with the police, that's more than likely staying on his record? Nope. Had no one have made this a thing, Ahmed would probably have been considered 'radicalised'. There would have been questions asked about what his arrest was for, and more (incorrect) conclusions made. 

 

Let me assure you, I'm not jumping on the bandwagon here. I'm almost 18 and I'm from England, but I'm also a Muslim myself. You might not have known that, so I can't blame you for that. So no, I'm not jumping on the bandwagon. I've been through the same sorta stuff, profiling, etc. I know how much it sucks (a massive understatement) and I know that this sort of resentment is the type of thing that actually draws young Muslims towards these radical groups; they feel disenfranchised and let down by the West, who are meant to be accepting of them, but for the actions of some idiots (who thought associating themselves with Islam would make them any more important) they are basically refused that support - which leads to them being recruited by these groups, as they manipulate them into making them feel as though they belong. 

 

Sorry for the rant, but it's intensely disturbing when the problems of a Muslim are dismissed due to the actions of a few (who, in my opinion, represent no form of Islam). It's meant that I've missed out on many opportunities I should have access to, amongst other things. I can't help but feel something for this child, who reminds me of me. So if that's jumping on the bandwagon to you, so be it. But I hope you can see that this affects me quite personally. 

[Dad]

I disagree. The kid made a goddamn clock, but obviously that just is deserving of arrest, etc. Of course the school blew it out of proportion. 

 

It's not quite as blase as you've made it out to be. He was very clearly profiled based on his race and religion. This was Islamaphobic. And honestly, with all the crap that Muslims get in the media, I'd say that news items, especially in the States, about Muslims being the victim of something (such as this) are firmly in the minority. But yes, I do appreciate that the media highlight certain things and not others, which I'm guessing you can see from the sentence before this.

 

Nope, the clock didn't look like a movie bomb.

 

Movie Bomb: http://cdn.gajitz.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/defusable-clock-1.jpg

 

What Ahmed made: http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/10BF6/production/_85589586_16e23342-6ce7-4c4f-b176-88d94cf667b3.jpg

 

Now, I don't claim to be a pyrotechnics expert or anything, but in the first picture I can clearly see sticks of explosive attached to the timer. In Ahmed's clock, unless the briefcase were to be lined with some ultra-compact, high-energy explosive, I can't see anything that would actually be explosive. A faulty toaster could cause more damage than that briefcase. 

 

Also, the fact that you've highlighted 'movie bomb' is interesting. It implies that your knowledge of bombs comes from the media. I've never seen a bomb in real life, and I doubt you have either. We're trained to see what Ahmed has made as a bomb, because there's a few wires here and there, a circuit board, a LCD display, and HURR DURR IT'S A BOMB.

 

As for your reason for the suspension, think about it logically. If Ahmed were to use it to stage a fake bomb threat, why would he show it to his teacher? That makes absolutely zero sense. When it was actually discovered, it was because it was beeping in his bag, since the first teacher had told him to put it away. He had been told that the clock would appear threatening (the implication of which, in itself, is saddening), and thus obeyed. Where in this has Ahmed done anything wrong? Nowhere! He wanted to show a clock to an engineer teacher (the type of teacher you'd assume would be the right guy to go to in order to talk about this invention), and if it had been intended to be used as part of a fake bomb threat, that teacher would've known. 

 

So the school did him a favour of making a pariah out of him, singling him out? They did a favour by escalating matters to the law before trying to find a direct, local solution (which likely would not have made the situation as 'large' and daunting to Ahmed as you claim it to be)? They did a favour by having him arrested, and that since he's interacted with the police, that's more than likely staying on his record? Nope. Had no one have made this a thing, Ahmed would probably have been considered 'radicalised'. There would have been questions asked about what his arrest was for, and more (incorrect) conclusions made. 

 

Let me assure you, I'm not jumping on the bandwagon here. I'm almost 18 and I'm from England, but I'm also a Muslim myself. You might not have known that, so I can't blame you for that. So no, I'm not jumping on the bandwagon. I've been through the same sorta stuff, profiling, etc. I know how much it sucks (a massive understatement) and I know that this sort of resentment is the type of thing that actually draws young Muslims towards these radical groups; they feel disenfranchised and let down by the West, who are meant to be accepting of them, but for the actions of some idiots (who thought associating themselves with Islam would make them any more important) they are basically refused that support - which leads to them being recruited by these groups, as they manipulate them into making them feel as though they belong. 

 

Sorry for the rant, but it's intensely disturbing when the problems of a Muslim are dismissed due to the actions of a few (who, in my opinion, represent no form of Islam). It's meant that I've missed out on many opportunities I should have access to, amongst other things. I can't help but feel something for this child, who reminds me of me. So if that's jumping on the bandwagon to you, so be it. But I hope you can see that this affects me quite personally. 

 

This.  All of this.  This is precisely what I was getting at.  And I think its absurd that there's even a bandwagon to speak of.  This was grade a racism at its finest, and I wouldn't be surprised if Ahmed was mentally scarred by this sheet.

 

[Progenitor]

First off, those two aren't even the same types of things.  I specifically said briefcase bomb not pipe bomb

 

And you can go ahead and say that.  Play right into the media's hands why don't you.  Just like how Jimmy Kimmel said that all Youtube gamers are retards, got a bunch of flack, made a video specifically laughing at the flack, got MORE flack, only to make a third video laughing at that flack.

 

And how many views does that stuff have?  over x10 the normal view count than the other more serious bits on his channel?  Did no one see what he was doing?

 

Same thing here.  Negative attention is the best attention.  You can call it a hate crime all you want, but at the end of the day, the kid brought in a device that at first glance could have very easily been mistaken for a bomb.  That notion was dismissed almost immediately upon investigation.  However, that's not what he was suspended for.  I reiterate, he was suspended because the school claimed that he was making a fake bomb threat, and no one had any proof to argue either side.  Therefore the district wins by default.  And like I said, with this automatically becoming a hate crime for some reason, I'm sure those 3 days off from school for all this to blow over are probably exactly what he needs

 

This topic doesn't need the help of our friendly neighborhood SJW.  I promise you that if a white kid had inconspicuously brought the same type of briefcase-wired device with a clock on it, it would have been mistaken for a bomb and the exact same thing would have happened; that is to say they would have pinned him on the threat with a minor offense to make it seem like he really did nothing wrong, let the whole thing blow over, and then get on with their lives.
 

Every time a black man is shot by a white cop it's, shocker, not always a hate crime.  You really need to take off the SJ goggles and look at this objectively.  Schools are unbelievably uptight when it comes to rules and regulations, and they never want to have any kind of negative shadow cast on them.  This was the least objective way to settle the misunderstanding.  If he had gotten away scot free, then it truly would have looked like a hate crime, since why misunderstand in the first place.

[Flame Dragon]

Same thing here.  Negative attention is the best attention.  You can call it a hate crime all you want, but at the end of the day, the kid brought in a device that at first glance could have very easily been mistaken for a bomb.  That notion was dismissed almost immediately upon investigation.  However, that's not what he was suspended for.  I reiterate, he was suspended because the school claimed that he was making a fake bomb threat, and no one had any proof to argue either side.  Therefore the district wins by default.  And like I said, with this automatically becoming a hate crime for some reason, I'm sure those 3 days off from school for all this to blow over are probably exactly what he needs

If not proof is available for either side, the defense automatically wins, in this case the student. Burden of proof is on the accuser.

 

My understanding of the case is:

Boy brought clock to school

Shows two teachers

Second believes it to be bomb, escalates things

 

You can not say he was trying to case a bomb hoax when he wasn't showing it to other students or calling it a bomb. Those two thing would leads to problems, but he showed it to two teachers and both times said it was a clock. Also, if the teacher truly thought it was a bomb, why wasn't the school evacuate?

 

I HIGHLY doubt this would have blown over in 3 days. He was taken out of the school in cuffs. The kids aren't going to forget that that quickly, especially now with that media coverage of it. I feel terrible for the kid for having gone through this, but the next month or so sure isn't going to be easy for him, especially since school only just started and he's a freshman.

[Progenitor]

But this isn't a courtroom.

 

In University, if your professor walks up to you during a test, sees you tilting your head or whatever, and calls you out on cheating, you can say whatever the funk you want.  But it doesn't matter.  He's taking your test and giving you a 0, possibly even taking further action and bringing academic affairs into it.  If that happens, then a little X goes on your transcript.  You can graduate with straight A's, but as soon as you hand over your transcript to a potential employer, he's gonna see that X and know you infringed on your academic integrity and cheated.

 

And neither you nor the professor has any definitive proof you cheated.  Maybe you were.  But maybe you were just stretching.  maybe he looked over at the wrong time for things to look extremely bad.  It doesn't matter.  In an education scenario, all students are under a set rule of academic integrity, and under said rule the administration always has the final say.  Sure under that same integrity you can challenge the ruling, but that requires enough evidence to actually overrule it.  If neither side has evidence, the administration has every right to make a claim.  If counter-evidence cannot be supplied, the administration carries its notion.

 

Why wasn't the school evacuated?  Simple.  Read my story (3rd comment on page 1).  Why wasn't there at least an announcement that the culprit had been found and detained?  Because he was autistic.  Because he had been bullied, and the aids provided did nothing about it.  You can't single out an autistic kid like that.  It's taboo in it's purest form.

 

Same thing here.  A teacher starts raising hell.  The administration takes their word for it and follows the book.  Turns out the teacher was crying wolf.  Now you have just called in the freaking police and detained an arab child for creating a device that resembles a bomb.  Do you realize the implications of simply turning around and saying "our bad" ?  Then it becomes 100% a hate crime.  There was seemingly no reason for the 2nd teacher to flip.  Maybe it had something to do with race, and maybe not.  maybe he/she honestly did think it resembled a bomb.  We don't know.  But the school has to pull this all together.  They can't let the actions of one teacher destroy their reputation and foundation.

 

As a parent, would you want your child to go to a school that singled out an Arab child in a hate crime?  funk no.  So they turned it into the lightest possible offense they could.  But it was too late.  The media bloodhounds were already flipping everything on it's head.

 

I guarantee you; I'm talking like life savings Billy Mays Guarantee here, that offense will be nowhere on his transcript.  Why?  The school isn't evil.  They were just trying to shift this notion of blame into the path that would cause the least overall damage.  They diluted and diffused it across all sources.  The impact of a striking force is weakened over larger surface area.  The area of effect is much larger, but the force felt by each individual part is much weaker.

 

THATS what the school is doing.  If they take all the blame, it will destroy them.  If he takes all the blame it will destroy him.  But if they both take the punches, they will be battered and bruised sure, but give it a week of bedrest and they'll be back on their feet like nothing ever happened.

[Sethera]

THATS what the school is doing.  If they take all the blame, it will destroy them.  If he takes all the blame it will destroy him.  But if they both take the punches, they will be battered and bruised sure, but give it a week of bedrest and they'll be back on their feet like nothing ever happened.

The problem I have with this, is that while I understand what you mean in terms of legality, in that the boy's "offense" won't be marked on official records, the mental and emotional repercussions might stay with him his whole life. He is a young teenage boy, hyperaware of how people feel about him, and now he suddenly has a torrent of attention, both positive and negative, on him. I can guarantee you he won't come out of this unscarred. There were signs of it already when he said he wasn't going to be bringing his inventions to school anymore. He doesn't trust that place anymore.

 

Not only that, but I can assure you that there will be mixed reactions at his school. There will be those who want to talk to him because of the attention, and those that treat him poorly because of it. Neither types will be good for him.

 

Also you say it as if these two extremes that you've laid out and what actually happened are the only possible scenarios. But I think that there are other, better ways the school could have handled this. For instance, admitting that the teacher made a mistake and perhaps trying to focus less on race and more on the fact it could have been a genuine misunderstanding. Then, there's less chance of it being labeled a hate crime.

 

Though I still think it was a matter of race/religion from the one police officer's comment, but the school could have tried to spin it differently to help them save face while also apologizing to the kid and not making a big deal out of it.

[Progenitor]

You can't fight the media.  I already mentioned Jimmy Kimmel's shenanigans.  They take whatever logic you can throw at them and re-work it into ammunition against you.  I'm sure the school has done necessary compensation for this nonsense.  They know that this kid shouldn't have to go through this.  But he was roped into it.  If he tried to cite it as an innocent misunderstanding, it would of somehow been reworked into "Why would you hire teachers so prone to panic and so racist?" because the media feeds off that kind of drama.  News is no longer news.  Everything has a logical and objective side to it, and the media tries it's very best to only show you things in which they can construe that side into obscurity.

 

Believe me, I have a first hand perspective from a similar situation.  That autistic kid was back in school after a week.  And what happened?  He had more friends than ever.  People were either sympathetic or just interested now, and he was genuinely a very cool individual.  He wrote music in the downtime and even had a published book.  He wasn't scarred for life.  His depression didn't worsen.  In fact, he was happier than I'd ever seen him.  The same will happen here.  The kids in that school know the whole story.  They know what really went down without this nonsense on the airways.  Kids are sympathetic to one another in these types of situations, especially at a high school level.  Look at all of the pictures taken.  Do you see even one apathetic face in that crowd?  Hell no.  That genuine concern doesn't just vanish.  He'll be back on his feet when this shitstorm dies down.

 

And as far as the police go, look.  The kid had some hardcore tech in a briefcase.  Like hardcore.   There was a central circuit board large enough for a small computer.  And all this for a clock?  Sure probably, but if you are a teacher with absolutely zero understanding of the technical monsterosity you see before you, and all of a sudden an alarm goes off inside it, I'm pretty sure the last thing you are concerned about if the kid is White or Arab.  I'm pretty sure you are going to immediately panic, call the principal, in which case with no other information to go on he will follow standard procedure and call the police and special forces to diffuse the situation.  That comment about how it could look like a bomb was completely genuine.

 

Imagine you have a shopping list in your pocket at University and you're taking a test.  It falls out of your pocket.  You bend down and pick it up, and just then your professor notices that you are doing so.  To you, it's obviously a list you need for later that has no consequence to the task at hand.  But the professor doesn't have that knowledge.  To him it's a cheat-sheet.  He could open it up and see it's a shopping list sure, but how does he know it's not some kind of one word reminders?  You know, like the stuff you write on note cards for a speak; just 1 or 2 words or something to jog your memory and remember what you wanted to say.  That's still cheating.  The professor is under no obligation to believe you.  And in most colleges he will actually get in some hot water if he doesn't follow through here.  So he has no choice but to fail you.  Yeah it sucks knowing the whole story, but Heisight is 20/20.  In the circumstance it was impossible for the professor to know without a doubt that it did indeed have no relevance.

[epicmemesbro]

 

 

 

I can sorta relate to this. My sophomore year in high school some kid was going to turn in a project for chemistry. The period before his chem class his teacher caught a glimpse of it and thought it was "drug paraphernalia" and called the office and then the county sheriff. It should be noted the kid was Latino -_-. They took the situation way out proportion. They could have just referred to his chemistry teacher to confirm the project. It wasn't surprising tho. The county sheriff detained him for at least a day before this was all cleared up. Race was probably an issue, and both the sheriff and school handled it bad. But some cops here do racially profile not to mention the country sheriff was under investigation a while back for corruption. The is probably the same deal. The kid had good intentions with that clock but of course due to his ethnicity it went to far. Or they probably legit thought it was something more sinister than a clock even if race wasn't an issue. I don't know. In light of this alot of British elitists have been claiming this racial paranoia wad exclusive to the US. Wrong. Scandinavian countries have been having high levels of islamaphobia recently. An extremist party in Greece have been scapegoating Afgan refugees for their economic collapse. It happens everywhere, not just Texas.

[Goose]

The title of this thread was clearly written by an idiot.  He was arrested after bringing a homemade clock to school but he was arrested on the suspicion of trying to cause alarm at his school IIRC.

[Mutant Monster RAEG-HAPYP]

I can sorta relate to this. My sophomore year in high school some kid was going to turn in a project for chemistry. The period before his chem class his teacher caught a glimpse of it and thought it was "drug paraphernalia" and called the office and then the county sheriff. It should be noted the kid was Latino -_-. They took the situation way out proportion. They could have just referred to his chemistry teacher to confirm the project. It wasn't surprising tho. The county sheriff detained him for at least a day before this was all cleared up. Race was probably an issue, and both the sheriff and school handled it bad. But some cops here do racially profile not to mention the country sheriff was under investigation a while back for corruption. The is probably the same deal. The kid had good intentions with that clock but of course due to his ethnicity it went to far. Or they probably legit thought it was something more sinister than a clock even if race wasn't an issue. I don't know. In light of this alot of British elitists have been claiming this racial paranoia wad exclusive to the US. Wrong. Scandinavian countries have been having high levels of islamaphobia recently. An extremist party in Greece have been scapegoating Afgan refugees for their economic collapse. It happens everywhere, not just Texas.

 

Yeah, Islamaphobia is not exclusive to the U.S. at all. I think it's a problem throughout the western world, tbh. Not just America.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

The title of this thread was clearly written by an idiot.  He was arrested after bringing a homemade clock to school but he was arrested on the suspicion of trying to cause alarm at his school IIRC.

This is first of all kinda dickish to say and second of all not really relevant. This is literally what happened, and the article in the OP explains the details. What would you title it?

"9th Grade Muslim student arrested on the suspicion of trying to cause an alarm as his school"?

[jackelgull]

He was causing an alarm at his school. Just not that kind of alarm. Sorry for the awful pun, couldn't resist myself. As for the harm to the kid? This kind of thing doesn't die down. By the time he comes back, the buzz will have died down, not because the incident has been forgotten, but because everyone will have made up their minds about what happened. Some will view him as a pariah that brought trouble to their school, and some will view him as a victim. It will color his interactions with his peers for quite a while. Which is why I wish he had at least been older when this happened, so he could have at least had a circle of friends who know him for who he is, and with whom his relationship won't change because of the incident.