At the end of November, Fox 26 Houston reported statements by Maher Suleiman saying that his 6-year-old son Mohammed had been singled out by a substitute teacher at his elementary school in Pearland, Texas. Mohammad Suleiman has Down syndrome, according to his father, and does not speak—though he says he was told that part of what prompted a police investigation into his son was an allegation that he was saying the words “Allah” and “boom” repeatedly.
“She claimed he was a terrorist,” said Maher. “This is so stupid, it’s discrimination. Actually, it’s not implied discrimination, it’s actual discrimination.”
The teacher’s reported accusation against the special needs child prompted a police investigation and one by Child Protective Services as well.
What exactly happened and what the allegations were is ambiguous, in part because the school cannot by law discuss it publicly.
“In my opinion, based on everything I heard from the police department and speaking with the administration from the school, that this was a story piece milled together by a substitute teacher alleging this child was sexually harassing her, the teacher, and possibly being a terrorist,” said community activist Quanell X. “A 6-year-old kid.”
The San Antonio Current received an email from a Pearland ISD spokesperson.
Kim Hocott, a spokeswoman for Pearland ISD, issued a statement to the Current regarding the original report aired on Fox26, saying it was "NOT true" that a substitute teacher had made a report of an incident with this child, that the substitute teacher was not involved in any way with the report to the police, and that it is "NOT true" the child was in any way adversely affected by any school personnel.
"The report to the police was NOT made because of the child's or his parent's religious beliefs or because of fears that the child would commit a terrorist act," Hocott said in an email. "The reasons for the report to the police are serious and were legally required of the individual making the report - but those reasons cannot be revealed by the school district — without compromising student/family/employee confidentiality laws."
Chron in Houston had more of the interview with community activist Quanell X.
"To give the police credit, when I spoke to the assistant police chief in Pearland, the man was honest, respectful and believed this was extreme, but they had to follow protocol," X said. "I was just surprised that CPS was involved. What are they investigating? Neglect? Abuse? I didn't realize Child Protective Services had a division that was trained to spot out Islamic terrorism."
Tiffani Butler, media specialist for Child Protective Services confirmed that the case is currently under investigation by their office.
There is also the need to place some context with this story.
The incident comes just months following a tumultuous city council election, where Position 7 Councilman Woody Owens was sharply criticized for sharing what many considered anti-Muslim messages on his personal Facebook page during his campaign against Dalia Kasseb, a 30-year-old pharmacist and the first Muslim candidate to run for office in the City of Pearland.
Owens won the runoff against Kasseb this summer but not before the story of Owens’ Islamophobic Facebook posts came out.
Imagine Kasseb's surprise, then, when she watched a video that includes screenshots of various groups' harsh anti-Muslim messages that Owens had shared on Facebook. One particularly crude post features an image of a goat and the words: "I don't want to grow up to be abused as a Muslim sex slave. Please ban Islam. #GoatLivesMatter."
You can watch the original news report below.