Recent events show lack of tolerance for Islam

By: Abbey Carlson

Beaming with pride, Ahmed Mohamed, 14, of Irving, Texas, sat in class, watching the clock tick by. He couldn’t wait to show his beloved new invention to his favorite teacher, who he had next period. His palms were sweaty and his leg was bouncing up and down. He couldn’t stay still. Finishing his homemade clock had taken countless hours of hard work and skill, an achievement he never thought possible.

Before the bell could ring to free him, the door to the classroom creaked open, catching everybody’s attention. Mohamed turned in his seat along with his classmates, curious as to who was there. His stomach dropped as he saw five police officers and his principal, all looking right at him.

Mohamed got arrested on Monday morning in the middle of class. He brought a homemade clock to school to show his favorite teacher his prized possession, and he was wrongly accused of making a bomb. Mohamed is Muslim, which is sadly a huge suspicion on why he was mistaken for a terrorist.

Chief Larry Boyd of the Irving Police Department claimed that Mohamed should have been “more forthcoming” on his description of the homemade clock. Also, Mohamed confirmed that he was interrogated without an attorney present, and the officers never apologized for the harsh way they treated an innocent 14-year-old boy.

Is this what the United States has come to? Arresting people for their religious background?

Now, a week later, Mohamed has transferred to a new high school and has received an invite to the White House. With dreams to become an MIT student, Mohamed has a bright future ahead of him, despite the shameful way he was treated for bringing a homemade clock to school.

As horrendous as this situation is, all over the United States Islamophobia has been spreading. On the evening of Dec. 27, a dark-skinned man was pushed in front of a Subway and struck and killed for being mistaken as Muslim. An American, a fellow peer, held so much hate in his or her heart that it led to killing an innocent man. Even if the man had been Muslim, he still would’ve been just as innocent and wrongly killed.

More recently, two presidential candidates have openly expressed their distaste for the Islamic community. Both Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee admitted that they would accept Christians, but not Muslims.

Do you want the next president of our country to hold that kind of hate in his or her heart? Are you willing to put our freedom into the hands of someone who only sees in black and white and who holds these type of grudges towards innocent people?

This growing hate for an innocent religion is astounding. On the day of Sept. 11, 2002, 2,977 innocent people died. Since then, we have harassed, tortured, killed and shamed the Muslim community for simply existing. When is this going to stop? When will someone finally put an end to the injustice of the United States?