Justice

These 7 Memes Prove We Actually Stood With Ahmed

September 18th 2015

By:
Kyle Jaeger

Ahmed Mohamed, the 14-year-old student who was suspended and arrested after police and school officials suspected him of making a hoax bomb (actually just a homemade clock), is not planning on returning to MacArthur High School, and his family may take legal action against the Irving, Texas, school district. Instead, he's looking to transfer schools and has been fielding offers from a range of learning institutions, including the U.S. Space Camp.

The reason that he's pursuing other options is because he feels that he was discriminated against by school officials in Irving—profiled based on the color of his skin, his Muslim background, and distinctly Muslim name. Indeed, the act of putting a 14-year-old student in handcuffs, interrogating him, and taking him to a juvenile detention center despite the fact that he never suggested that the clock he built was anything other than a clock has troubled many across the world.

Hours after the news of his arrest got out, supporters flocked to social media, posting words of encouragement for Ahmed and expressing disapproval for the Irving police and high school. The hashtag #IStandWithAhmed spread across Twitter, often in conjunction with memes reacting to the event. Some of the memes perfectly capture the absurdity and hypocrisy of what appeared to be an Islamophobic reaction to a Muslim tinkerer's homemade clock, and others celebrate Ahmed and his inventiveness.