By: Paula Davis

On September 16, 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed walked into Macarthur High School, eager to impress his teacher with a homemade invention. Instead of being praised, Mohamed was reported by the teacher, which was followed with a visit and interrogation by the police.

The teenager was soon handcuffed, his crime being the creation of a hoax bomb. The young inventor was soon released, and all charges were dropped, but the situation would not be swept under the carpet. Through this entire process, a bomb squad was never called into the school, and no one was evacuated. So, this raised serious speculation as to whether or not officials ever believed that his clock could be a bomb, or if they were looking to make a joke out of the situation.

Once social media caught wind of the story, the hashtag “#IStandWithAhmed” became a global trending topic, bashing Islamophobia and uplifting the future engineer. People all over the nation tweeted out pictures at their respective workplaces, clocks in hand, further strengthening the support system behind Mohamed. Through the power of the Internet, Mohamed caught the attention of President Barack Obama, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, MIT, and many more. Dozens of parties are looking to get into contact with the teen, noting that the world is in need of young scientists like him.

The Irving, Texas high school has since received intense backlash for the event, accumulating hundreds of posts on its Facebook wall, shaming the system. In a state where slavery is being removed from textbooks, social justice advocates made sure that their opinions were voiced clearly throughout the sea of posts.

Mohamed has officially withdrawn from the school. He is looking to continue his education someplace where he can work on and improve upon his craft, without having to worry about being judged.