Opening up my Twitter feed Wednesday afternoon, I was in for one of the biggest shocks of my life. The hashtag #IstandwithAhmed flooded my feed. After doing some quick research, I uncovered that Ahmed Mohamed, a 14-year-old Muslim boy, brought a clock he constructed to school to show his teachers and was then arrested for this completely naive action, partially due to race. My heart broke and anger flooded through me because Islamophobia is such an important issue that so few people recognize. Having experienced it personally, it only hurts me more to see this happen to someone that young and acting so innocently.

Being raised in a mixed household with an Arab father and white mother, I've experienced a fair amount of prejudice in our post-9/11 culture. I was 5 years old when 9/11 happened, but I could recount to you the impact it's had on my family without a second thought. My dad, a normal, kind guy, couldn't leave the house for weeks because he was so afraid of going to supermarket with my brother and I because of how people might have reacted. The one time he did venture out, he was going to a small second-hand store he'd been to many times. As he approached the store, the girl working rushed to lock the door and called the cops on him. Luckily for him, the owner came and recognized him as a regular customer and no charges were pressed, but the reality of prejudice that 9/11 birthed is very real and not talked about enough.

One of the biggest changes caused by 9/11 was the strictness of airport security. One of the scariest things I ever experienced at 14 was being pulled into a private room after going through the normal security line and being patted and down having my belongings searched simply because my boarding pass was marked as having a name of concern, to put it simply. My little brother, 10 years old at the time, was also searched and patted down while my Dad was taken to a separate place. All because of the name that comes up on my birth certificate and my ethnic heritage. Traveling back from a business trip once, a number of years ago, my father had his laptop not only questioned and searched but confiscated and shipped home to him. For no other reason other than his name.

Now please don't misunderstand me, I understand why such extreme security measures are in place in airports and beyond, but I don't support that it allows for racial profiling to thrive. The reality of the matter is that anyone of any religion can be a terrorist or a member of an extremist religion that preaches hatred for others. For people unaware, that's what most terrorists do — they practice extreme denominations of Islam, for example, that teach hatred of other people and cultures. This is not what Islam is. Islam is a religion that teaches a love of others, respect and a love for God, just as Judaism and Christianity do. So few people are able to recognize this, though.

One of the most infuriating airport stories I have experienced in the past 19 years actually seems like it could be quite laughable. This past July, I was traveling with family and friends, and my brother went through airport security with a fruit roll-up in his pocket. After doing the normal full body scan in the machine, security pulled aside my 15-year-old brother, patted him down and asked him to take the fruit roll-up out of his pocket. They then began questioning him on the contents of the fruit roll-up container, which he insisted was candy. They were still concerned about it and told him that he would have to throw it away. Honestly, this story could be completely laughable if it hadn't been for the humiliation that my brother had to suffer in the process.

Islamophobia is an issue that deeply affects people and does not get spoken about enough. I'm sick and tired of terrorist jokes based on racial profiling and that it's even become a joke for some people. I'm proud of my heritage and I'm proud of family. I stand with Ahmed Mohamed because no 14 year old should have to be arrested in school for making clock he's proud of because his racial background connects him to terrorists. It's been 14 years since 9/11, and yet this racial profiling is still taking place across the country without being discussed. It's time that changed and that Islamophobia is put to rest for good because my family deserves the same treatment that my neighbors get.