What causes us to consider a person a threat? Who shapes our cognitive dissonance of what a villain looks like? Merriam-Webster dictionary defines cognitive dissonance as, “psychological conflict resulting from incongruous beliefs and attitudes held simultaneously.”
In Irving, Texas, 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed showed his high school teacher a digital clock he made out of a pencil case. Ahmed’s background shows he is just like any other high school student in America who strives for excellence in the classroom. He would like to be a future engineer who may change the world. The only difference between Ahmed and other students is that he was arrested for making a digital clock out of his pencil case because his teacher thought it might be an explosive device. By now, you have probably assumed Ahmed is a student who practices Islam as his faith based off his name. Being we often make assumptions about people based on their names, it is correct that Ahmed would be categorized as a Muslim student.
It is no secret that stereotypes and stigmas with about people of different ethnicities or classes in our nation. After the 9/11 terrorist attack that rocked our souls to the core, the intensity against Muslims sky-rocketed after knowing extremists of the Islamic faith were behind the attacks of that tragic day. When does the close-mindedness of judging a single individual for the mistakes of a small minority end? In this case, how was Ahmed a danger to the teacher?
At some point our country as a whole, which includes every minority and majority, must realize that we cannot and should not judge a person or group of people based off a smaller fraction of extremists who abuse our trust. Ahmed was arrested and taken from his school in handcuffs on Monday after the school called the police. He made a statement after being arrested for his digital clock: “They arrested me and they told me that I committed the crime of a hoax bomb, a fake bomb,” Ahmed said after being interviewed by Texas news station WFAA 8. Irving Police spokesman, Officer James McLellan also told the station about interrogating the teen. McLellan said, “We attempted to question the juvenile about what it was and he would simply only tell us that it was a clock.”
The Chief of the Irving Police Department said the teen was not very descriptive about the clock and said Ahmed was not “forthcoming” with information, as stated in a CNN news article. There is only so much a person can tell you about a clock made out of a pencil case.
Stories such as this sometimes do not make it to the national stage, but thanks to the hashtag #IStandwithAhmed, many rally behind this young Texas student while reigning in support for his cause. President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and many important figures tweeted support for Ahmed.
Ahmed’s story could have been ended in negative press, but this student has now probably made many connections for his future endeavor to become an engineer.
If we are to progress as Americans ,we need to stop being so closed off to diversity and become more inclusive. Would this story have been nation -wide for the same reason if the student were Caucasian or African-American? Or is it because he is of Arab descent that we assume his intentions were negative? If he was not of Arab descent this story would be titled ‘Texas High School Student designs digital clock.’ Things are totally different when the spectrum changes, but it should not be this way.
Hopefully, there will be fewer stories like this as we hope to progress and become more accepting of diversity in this country.
