Ahmed Mohamed, 14, has weathered the storm that came his way
On September 14, 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed was wrongly profiled, interrogated, handcuffed, and arrested after he brought his creative engineering project, a clock, to school. Administrators and police officers suspected it was a bomb. It was a grave injustice that if left alone could've negatively changed the trajectory of his entire life. But in an uplifting twist, the world really showed up for this brilliant young engineer.
Racial injustice and discrimination are far too common in America and the ugly truth is that what happened to Mohamed happens in various forms to young women and men all across our country every single day. Sadly, in a powerful interview (seen below) with MSNBC's Chris Hayes, Mohamed communicated that he had previously dealt with being called "a terrorist" by students at his school. But sometimes, injustice backfires on those who attempt to force their ugly views on the world. This, thankfully was one of those instances.
Keep reading to see who is in Mohamed's corner.
By the end of the day yesterday, not only was the story of Ahmed Mohamed known to the entire world, but he had support coming from President Obama, Twitter, Facebook, NASA, MIT, and regular people from all over. His grace under pressure, his intelligence, his smile and charm, and his ability to bounce back from such an awful injustice have touched the hearts of millions. Now, a new and better but still concerning level of pressure is on Mohamed, with the eyes of the world watching him.
Let's hope that we will now give him and his family the safe space to simply live their lives. We all have high hopes for this young brother, but his future is his and his alone.
We're rooting for you, Ahmed.