Clock Incident Reveals Islamophobia in America

When Texas teen, Ahmed Mohamed, brought a homemade clock to school, he was expecting praise from his teachers. Instead, administrators called the police because they thought he had brought a bomb to school. The police detained him for several hours and interrogated Ahmed without the presence of his parents. National coverage of this event did not focus on this injustice and instead rationalized the school’s response. This media coverage itself emphasizes the severe Islamophobia in our country.

A simple Google search of “Ahmed” yields countless articles intended to destroy the massive support system for Mohamed after the arrest went viral. Aspiring politicians have publicly voiced anti-Muslim sentiments (Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson stated that he “absolutely would not agree to” a Muslim president; Donald Trump claimed that he would be looking into removing Muslims from the country). Elaborate “conspiracy theories” have surfaced, some declaring that the clock was in fact a bomb, and others going so far as to say that the arrest of Mohamed was planned as part of an intricate scheme in which the fourteen-year-old used his invitation to the White House as an opportunity to blow it up.

Regardless of how much support is being offered to Mohamed, the vast amount of publications and people voicing anti-Muslim opinions validates that Islamophobia in America is a very real and degrading issue.

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