Clock kid was just pulling a prank
You contradict yourself. Is this about the nanny state, or is it about racism?
It's very telling that the pundits are accusing him of not building the clock. They can't prove a negative so they won't even try. The accusation stands alone for the sole purpose of subterfuge. It's beyond obvious that this youngster has a perclivity for technology. Yet it's still a hotly debated topic on these forums almost a month after the incident. We're falling right into the Limbaugh playbook of alienate the brown kid and turn him into an enemy before he's even politically aware. That's a self-fulfilling prophecy. You want to know why minorities keep rejecting us, it's because we reject them before they even had a chance to be heard. We had a golden opportunity to point out the overprotective nanny state in the school system here and I'm shocked we're taking the Limbaugh position here.
On one hand, you indicate that you understand that the problem here is
“the overprotective nanny state in the school system”. I agree, since Amed was obviously arrested because of zero-tolerance policies. The public needs to be made aware of the failures of zero-tolerance policies and how they affect people, but the media refuses to cover it.
On the other hand, you can’t refrain from bringing up the kid’s “brownness”…
“alienating the brown kid” and
“minorities keep rejecting us… because we reject them before they even had a chance to be heard”.
You expect proof (beyond the photos and video which illustrate it) that Amed did not make a “clock”, before you will doubt him - but where is your proof that Amed’s brownness had anything at all to do with the situation? I think you automatically jumped to that conclusion the second you became aware that he had darker skin and was muslim. Because of his ethnicity, you assume racism is the only possible explanation. Yet there are plenty of cases of white kids who’ve been arrested and/or suspended/expelled over much lesser offenses involving fake bombs or allusions to bombs. (i.e. Fart jokes, prop bombs, drawing a cartoon bomb - google it).
You’re correct that we missed a golden opportunity to publicly address the failures
of zero tolerance policies, and it’s because people like you insist on obscuring the real, and addressable issue (in this case,
zero tolerance policies), with your need to accuse others of racism whenever some minority is involved. Does accusing others of being “haters” make you feel better about yourself?
Ahmed is nothing but a prankster. He was NOT sent to the principal for having a bomb! This should be obvious because the school was not evacuated. He was sent to the principal for disrupting class - like so many other kids his age. This is a case of the simplest answer being the most likely one.
I find it racist that the kid’s ethnicity has made some people blind to the obvious - that
a 14-year old got in trouble for pulling a prank.
