One photo sums up the hypocrisy that continues to occur in America. With his hands cuffed behind his back, Ahmed Mohamed, 14, looks helplessly at a camera before being taken away by police officers.
Mohamed was arrested for creating a clock and bringing it to his school in Dallas. He showed it to his teachers with hopes of receiving validation. He was congratulated by his engineering teacher, who warned him against showing the clock to others. However, Mohamed showed the clock to another teacher who called police. The teacher thought Mohamed had created a bomb. He was taken out of his class by police officers who booked him into juvenile detention. One officer said, “It looks like a movie bomb.”
The police officer’s reaction summed up why racial profiling is America’s most horrific disease. Individuals who lack the proper understanding of how to deal with different races, religions, and cultures are somehow in positions of authority. It’s the same reason Eric Garner was killed in New York; it’s why John Crawford III was killed at Wal-Mart in Ohio; it’s why Tamir Rice was shot in cold blood in Cleveland.
Mohamed probably wouldn’t have been arrested if he was a Caucasian kid named John Smith. Texas is a “right to bear arms” state where it’s not uncommon to see White kids Mohamed’s age and younger carrying assault rifles. Those kids aren’t viewed as threats even when they are holding lethal weapons.
Mohamed’s arrest was also an indictment of America’s education system. Being a country that suffers when it comes to math and science, it’s sad that racism played a role in discouraging a teen’s creativity.
Although Mohamed was cleared of criminal charges, he was still suspended by his school for three days. It’s the result of America’s disease of racial profiling — a horrific gift that keeps on giving.
