Ahmed Mohamed, 14, went into his high school in Irving, Texas with a smile on his face on Monday, Sept. 14. He was excited to show his friends his latest creation, a homemade clock. He had no idea that his creation would lead to his suspension and arrest under the school’s belief that the innocent clock had to be a homemade bomb.
Upon hearing news of Mohamed’s arrest, the Internet broke out in outrage, sighting blatant racism as the reason behind the teenager’s arrest. President Obama and Hilary Clinton both reached out in showing support for the inventive young boy.
When I heard the news, I was completely unsurprised. Putting the subject of race aside, because that opens up a whole can of worms. In a society in which school shootings and bomb threats have become the norm, caution has to be taken.
My high school, where my brother still attends school, had two bomb threats a couple weeks ago in which the students had to be evacuated to a safe location. An anonymous caller called in twice, reporting their knowledge of a bomb on school grounds. Police had to be called in.
I saw updates on Twitter and Snapchat, showing scared students who had no idea what was going on. Some students found humor in the matter, but most were struck by the seriousness of the situation, and told others that their jokes were completely inappropriate.
One girl at the high school tweeted out the morning before the bomb threat that she wished there was a bomb threat so she didn’t have to go to school that day. My brother later told me that this girl didn’t get any attention from the school administration.
Really? When he told me this, I was utterly ashamed for my alma mater. They did practically nothing, while other schools took extreme precautions to make sure their students were safe.
A middle ground needs to be met. Irving, Texas overreacted. It was smart to call in police to have the clock checked, but there was no need to arrest Mohamed. He seemed perfectly willing to comply, and handed the clock over because he knew it was not a weapon of mass destruction. If he had not agreed to hand his invention over, police would have had a reason to arrest him, in the interest of safety for everyone. If he had refused it would’ve looked like he had something to hide, which he obviously didn’t.
In the case of my alma mater, they did not do enough. They searched the premises and got all the students to safety, but did nothing besides that. In our social media controlled world, police need to be checking these networks often while trying to solve cases. Especially in cases where teenagers are involved.
In my high school’s case, I feel like the police should’ve been given access to all of the students’ accounts. Now, some people may completely disagree with me, and be screaming about freedom of speech right now, but honestly, if it’s for the safety of the people who cares? What’s a little invasion of privacy compared to saving the lives of hundreds of students? Sure they’d probably complain a lot at first, but if the culprit was caught before anything happened again, wouldn’t that be worth it?
So once again, I stress the importance of a median. They could interview any students with suspicious social media activity. Other students wouldn’t need to worry, as long as they didn’t post anything stupid. Being realistic though, I don’t think potential bombers would post something about their future activities, unless they are extremely stupid. I do however think that this approach would lessen the amount of deaths. It’s a good precaution.
There is no need to go to the extremes that Irving, Texas went to of arresting anyone unless there is adamant proof. Police need to be smarter about these situations, and not overreact, but also not underreact. It’s all about balance. Get students involved and ask questions. Check social media, and bring students in to interview them, but the handcuffs do not need to come out.
