#IStandWithAhmed: Fighting Islamophobia one tweet at a time
The teenager was handcuffed and taken to police headquarters and was not
allowed to call his parents. PHOTO: The Dallas Morning News
Ahmed Mohamed from Irving, Texas, left school in handcuffs on Monday after his teacher and school principal said his homemade clock looked like a bomb.
The hashtag #IStandWithAhmed has taken social media by storm and people are tweeting to let Ahmed know he is not alone.
Read: Obama invites arrested Muslim schoolboy to White House
Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg was not far behind in his support for the teenager and expressed his wish to meet the boy. “Having the skill and ambition to build something cool should lead to applause, not arrest. The future belongs to people like Ahmed.”
“Ahmed, if you ever want to come by Facebook, I’d love to meet you. Keep building,” he wrote in a status update on his Facebook profile.
Micro-blogging site Twitter was not one to stay behind and went one step ahead and offered an internship to Ahmed, saying they loved building things too.
Space Camp USA also took to Twitter to inform the 14-year-old he was welcome at the camp as someone had provided a scholarship for him.
Read: Muslim student arrested in US after home-built clock mistaken for bomb
And Google invited him to its science fair, but only if he promised to bring his clock.
Celebrities and many others have also been tweeting in support of Ahmed and there is no sign of them stopping any time soon.
Acknowledge Creativity #PBP #IStandWithAhmed
If it looks like a clock, ticks like a clock, is a clock but your name is Mohamed then its a bomb #IstandWithAhmed
Team @ReThinkRights says #IStandWithAhmed. #nerdingwhilemuslim
@IStandWithAhmed please keep going and don't let the ignorance of others bring you down, I'm very proud of you and stand with you Ahmed
Students can carry firearms at colleges in Texas but a 14 year old can't make a clock. #IStandWithAhmed http://kxan.com/2015/06/13/abbott-to-sign-open-carry-campus-carry-into-law/ …
KXAN News
Overwhelmed by all the support, Ahmed thanked everyone and appealed to them to come “together to stop this racial inequality and prevent this from happening again”.
Thank you fellow supporters. We can ban together to stop this racial inequality and prevent this from happening again
Some people also used the hashtag which was trending worldwide to share photos of themselves with clocks or watches to show solidarity:
In solidarity with @IStandWithAhmed CAIR-Chicago staff brought our clocks to work too. #IStandWithAhmed
Brought my clock to work today. #IStandWithAhmed #Solidarity
The 14-year-old intends to stand up for his rights and tweeted that he would be meeting his lawyer to come up with the future course of action.
Going to meet my lawyer.
He has also set up a fundraiser account for anyone who would like to help him:
https://t.co/MxvUjK7lZF This is an official fundraiser link that is supporting me, if you'd like to donate.— Ahmed Mohamed (@IStandWithAhmed) September 17, 2015
Source: http://tribune.com.pk/story/958350/istandwithahmed-fighting-islamophobia-one-tweet-at-a-time/
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